The best books on France and women since the Revolution of 1789

Every biographer needs a reliable social history, an authority that distils the essential, orders the chronology, and acts as a framework on which to pin all those facts. In his assured style, James F. McMillan artfully weaves the myriad strands of history into a seamless and engaging narrative. From prostitutes to housewives and from workers to salonières, the author spans the whole social spectrum to pinpoint not just what French women did, but why, and crucially, how their actions were received. The scrupulous research, swift pace, and crisp style make this comprehensive study a bible to anyone interested in the history of French women during the long 19th century.

No account of French women since the Revolution of 1789 would be complete without reference to this classic tale of a listless housewife turned adulterous thrill-seeker then suicide victim. Through his narrator and his characters, Flaubert offers a male perspective on the female condition in mid-19th-century France, exploring the way women were viewed, judged, pressured, and tempted. Even today, Madame Bovary remains a sobering lesson in the potentially devastating effects when expectation and reality diverge. In Emma’s case, the dreary monotony of everyday life fosters a ‘grass is always greener’ mentality which ultimately proves fatal. With her disappointment at marriage’s great anti-climax, her addiction to shopping and her insatiable quest for new sensations, Emma’s drama is at once historically revealing and uncomfortably timeless.

‘Father, except for murder and robbery, I’ve done everything.’ So confessed the notorious courtesan Liane de Pougy, and her diary offers a tantalising peek into the mind of a fast-living, turn-of-the-century ‘It’ girl. After a teen pregnancy, Liane was swiftly married, shot by her husband, then finally fled to Paris where she became a courtesan. Glamorous, forthright, and unashamedly vain, Liane turned herself into a fashion icon.  A social butterfly among high society, Liane’s address book reads like a literary Who’s Who of the roaring 20s (Jean Cocteau, Marcel Proust, the Rothschilds, and the poet Max Jacob all featured). From her spicy affairs – with men and women – to her marriage to Romanian Prince Georges Ghika and ultimate taking of the veil, ‘Princess’ Liane’s candid revelations make an eye-opening and unexpectedly moving read.

Ladies, what would you take if you had to flee your home suddenly? Clothes? Food? Sentimental objects? How would you manage if you had your period when enemy soldiers took you prisoner?

These are the kind of blindsiding questions we catch ourselves asking as we read Anne Sebba’s engrossing study of the way French women lived and loved through the Second World War. Drawing on first-hand interviews with a range of remarkable women, Sebba’s skill lies in the way she focuses on intimate, everyday details to which we can all relate. The result is a book which reaches through time and makes us really feel these women’s predicament. Sensitive, passionate, and heart-wrenching, this vivid social history makes you see the war and its women from an entirely different perspective.

A dusty bundle of 150-year-old letters found in a deserted house in rural France forms the premise of this intriguing literary hybrid. Author Gillian Tindall beckons us to follow her on an enthralling, real-life detective story, as she uncovers the life and loves of the letters’ addressee, an obscure provincial innkeeper’s daughter named Célestine Chaumettte. As she pieces Célestine’s story together, Tindall breathes life back into a whole slice of history and a community now vanished. A rich cast of forgotten characters springs from the pages as we see, taste, and smell the many textures of rural society in 19th-century France, along with the seasons and cycles that governed it. This evocative, haunting account of a country girl’s experience and place within this world really is social history at its best.