The Last Rendezvous

March 1, 2010
Marceline Desbordes-Valmore, a 19th-century French Romantic poet and actress whose contemporaries included Hugo, Balzac, and Georges Sand, was a sensation in her time. This fictionalized biography begins in midlife when, married to a younger man, handsome stage actor Prosper Valmore, she commences an obsessive liaison with the homely, imperious Henri de Latouche, a man of letters who helps advance her literary career. Desbordes-Valmore's interior reminiscences, written in the period's overheated style, are a bit hard to relate to, but fascinating flashbacks to the poet's childhood enlighten us as to her character. The young Desbordes-Valmore traveled to the Caribbean and back; as a rising star in the French theater, she supported her family, ruined financially during the Revolution. At the same time, buffeted by the vicissitudes of fame, she conducted affairs and lost illegitimate children to disease. VERDICT As Desbordes-Valmore gains public acclaim as a writer and pursues political and charitable interests, she emerges here as a modern, liberated woman. This work, a 2005 award winner in France, brings French history and letters to life. With selected poems.Reba Leiding, James Madison Univ. Libs., Harrisonburg, VA

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March 15, 2010
Plantagenets award-winning novel fictionalizes the life and loves of the French Romantic poet Marceline Desbordes-Valmore (17861859). The first-person narrative alternates between Desbordes as an aging, dispirited actress, growing ill at ease with her life on the stage, and as an adolescent who comes of age while forced to support her fragile mother and alcoholic father. Having suffered the death of her young child and her family members descent into addiction and mental illness, Desbordes is in her early thirties when she marries fellow actor, Prosper Valmore. In this union she hopes to find some relief from her troubled past. The peace she so desperately seeks, however, is thrown into question upon meeting the alluring Henri Latouche. As the two become involved in an affair, the relationship fuels a renewed motivation in Desbordes writing and life. Plantagenets tale evokes a lush portrait of a spirited, talented woman navigating her role as mother, daughter, poet, and lover. The text also includes a selection of Desbordes verse, translated by the poet Louis Simpson.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)