I hope Angela Toscana is reading this because she was asking about flawed heroines recently.
I'd forgotten about the Angelique books. I don't know how that happened. And then suddenly, recently, I remembered them again. I read loads of them when I was about 16. That was back in the late 80s and you could pick up the old Pan edititions (see above) easily in second hand and charity shops. At the time I was excruciatingly embarrassed by the covers but now they seem to have all the glamour of vintage pulp fiction.
I'd forgotten about the Angelique books. I don't know how that happened. And then suddenly, recently, I remembered them again. I read loads of them when I was about 16. That was back in the late 80s and you could pick up the old Pan edititions (see above) easily in second hand and charity shops. At the time I was excruciatingly embarrassed by the covers but now they seem to have all the glamour of vintage pulp fiction.
The first books were late 50s/ early 60s. My mum had some of them when I was a child. I didn't read them till I was a teenager though and I think I ended up reading the first 6 or 7 from memory. They're good, you know? Well-written and researched. Spoilers ahead.
Book 1 starts when Angelique is a teenager. She is forced to marry Joffrey, a Marquise I think, and much older man. Angelique is a bit Scarlet O'Hara-ish. Very beautiful and she knows it. Very young. She is appalled by Joffrey who is scarred and who limps and who is much older; who is learned and charming and unflappable. He loves her and decides to court her. Eventually (this is all book 1) she falls in love with him - they have a son - maybe two - in this book. However, a plot results in Joffrey being accused of witchcraft. Angelique risks everything to save him - placing her trust in a poverty-stricken lawyer who is the only one who will take Joffery's case.
They fail. Joffrey is - Angelique believes - burnt at the stake. It's not till several books later - after Angelique has had many adventures in France and abroad - that they are reunited. I can't remember which book it happens in but I remember being transported by that reunion. In between, Angelique has numerous lovers. I'm sure there is at least one child by another man.
I didn't know there had been Angelique films till I Googled Angelique when writing this post. Turns out there were five. Here is a You Tube video posted by a fan. The soundtrack is last year's Eurovision Song Contest winner (Norway won). This is wonderfully cheesy.
I always had Brigitte Bardot in mind as Angelique though, when I read the books. And this chap is a little .... chunky, for Joffrey. A French Liam Neeson. I always imagined Joffrey as being rather slender. Almost effete.
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6 comments:
I loved the Angelique series! The first ones were the best. They were written by a married couple Serge and Ann Golan. I always felt Serge was the technical one who came up with the details about alchemy. The books suffered from his death. The passion and sex was Ann's doing. I read all of the books that I could find when I was in my late teens. Thanks for reminding me.
Oh, hell yes! They were my guilty pleasure for years! The harem one particularly.
Those sound awesome!
I read them when I was 15... I think I spend a whole night reading one of the books in my summer holidays.. I was dead tired, but couldn't stop reading :o)
-stumbling out of a graduate school psychosis inducing month- Well, I'm finally able to catch up on my blog reading and here I get to respond. I've been fascinated by these books, but I have not read any of them.
Do you think they count as romance? I wonder because it seems the happy ending is deferred for so long. Is it another kind of romance? I have the same questions about Gone With The Wind as well. But speaking of deferment, I'm going to have to defer reading these until summer. -sighs- School really acts a reading preventative.
The best part about 1960's French period films? They just look like they are set in the 1960's.
Angela - yes I think they count as romance - but I have a looser definition than some.
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