Spotlight On: Catherine Clement

With a professional background in the area of History and Philosophy Catherine Clement has managed to use her expertise to write several works of fiction.

I must say that I first picked up one of her books because it mentioned Portugal. In La Señora a Jewish woman born in Lisbon is forced to leave the country after King Manuel I, in the XVI century, decrees that all Jewish must convert or leave. The book follows her journey from Lisbon to Antwerp, Venice and Ferrara. It was a wonderful book showing a specific period in European history where the politic and religious conflicts will lead to the migration of the Jewish people.

After that I decided I would be reading every book of hers that I could find. And the first one was L'Valse Inachevée about Empress Sissi of Austria. Unfortunately, most of her books don't seem to have been translated to English. I think they make for some very interesting reading and I don't hesitate to recommend them. Even the ones who can't be included in the historical fiction genre, that are more of an investigative or philosophical nature, cover interesting themes.

Next in my TBR pile are Theo's Odyssey and Edwina and Nehru set in India.

Here is the list of her books, mostly in french I'm afraid:
Bildoungue ou la vie de Freud, Christian Bourgois, 1978
La Sultane, Grasset, 1981
Le Maure de Venise, Grasset, 1983
Bleu Panique, Grasset, 1986
Adrienne Lecouvreur ou le cœur transporté, Robert Laffont, 1991, (réédition J'ai lu n°3957)
La Señora, Calmann-Lévy (réédition LGF-Livre de Poche n°8717)
Pour l'amour de l'Inde, Flammarion, J’ai Lu, 1993 - Edwina and Nehru
La valse inachevée, Calmann-Lévy, 1994 (réédition Le Livre de Poche n°13942)
La Putain du diable, Flammarion, 1996 (rééditon J'ai Lu n°4839)
Le Roman du Taj Mahal, Noésis, 1997
Les Dames de l'agave, Flammarion, 1998
Le Voyage de Théo, Seuil, 1998 (Points Seuil n°P680) - Theo's Odyssey
Martin et Hannah, Calmann-Lévy, 1999 (réédition Le Livre de poche n°14798)
Afrique esclave, Noésis, 1999
Jésus au bûcher, Seuil, 2000
Cherche-midi, Stock, 2000 (réédition Le Livre de poche n°30048)
Les Mille Romans de Bénarès, Noésis, 2000
Le Sang du monde, Seuil, 2004, suite du Voyage de Théo
Les derniers jours de la déesse, Stock, 2006