Abrantès, Laure d' (1784–1838)
Abrantès, Laure d' (1784–1838)
French novelist. Name variations: Laurette de St. Martine-Permon, Laure Permon, Duchesse d'Abrantès or Abrantes; (pseudonym) Madame Junot. Born at Montpellier, France, in 1784 (some sources cite 1785); died in Paris, on June 6(?), 1838; daughter of a Corsican mother who was a friend of Letizia Bonaparte; married General Junot (one of Napoleon's generals), later the duke of Abrantès or duc d'Abrantès; children: Constance Aubert (b. 1803).
Following her marriage, the society leader Laure d'Abrantès became lady-in-waiting to Letizia Bonaparte , mother of Napoleon. When Abrantès' alcoholic husband committed suicide, leaving her in financial straits, she began to write. Though her novels are mostly forgotten, her 18-volume Mémoires de Mme la duchesse d'Abrantès ou Souvenirs historiques sur Napoléon, la Révolution, le Directoire, le Consulat, l'Empire et la Restauration (Paris: Ladvocat, 1831–35) include the first years of the reign of Louis-Philippe. Along with her Histoire des salons de Paris (1836–38), they have been said to give an excellent, ribald, though sometimes inaccurate portrait of the 19th-century French court. Although the sales of her memoirs earned her 70,000 francs, it was not enough to sustain her, and Abrantès died in poverty.
suggested reading:
Cosland, M. Women of Iron and Velvet.