The French Consul's Wife: Memoirs of Celeste De Chabrillan in Gold-rush Australia

(Paperback)

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'What a subject for a film, but not, please, Meryl Streep ...Together with Dr Patricia Clancy (Melbourne University) and Jeanne Allen s (La Trobe University) elegant translation and able notes, the memoirs make for a piquant, informative, variegated and often startling read ...Miegunyah Press you ve done it again. (Derek Whitelock, Weekend Australian) A former Parisian courtesan, circus performer and dancer, Celeste de Chabrillan scandalised Melbourne society when she arrived in 1854 as the wife of the French Consul. These memoirs give a vivid firsthand account of the two-and-a-half years she spent in gold-rush Victoria. Celeste s arrival in Melbourne was preceded by the publication of her memoirs describing her illegitimate birth, miserable adolescence and celebrity career as a courtesan, bareback rider and polka dancer. As a result she was dubbed the consul s harlot spouse and ostracised by society. Despite this, Celeste did not avoid the public gaze and continued to employ her literary talents. Her memoirs are of a life spent in the village of St Kilda, the diplomatic and government house circle and the Ballarat gold fields. Her descriptions of

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"A detailed narrative of life in Melbourne told from the peculiar vantage point of a highly colorful, intelligent Frenchwoman." --Melbourne Historical Journal

Author Bio

Dr Patricia Clancy was for many years a senior lecturer in the French Department of the University of Melbourne. She is a winner of the Victorian Premier's Award for Literary Translation. Jeanne Allen taught French at La Trobe and Melbourne universities and has published on the French in colonial Australia.