For many of us, Melissa Isabelle is the archetypal French National, a name so familiar that we easily think of her when we hear her name. Her contribution to French literature is vast, with many works being written about her life and the times in which she lived. But what is also commonly thought of is her prolific husband, the writer Maupassant, who died in World War I. As a result, Melissa is often portrayed as a cipher to the lives and works of her husband; an artist who lost everything through their marriage but who rose above it to become one of the most respected and influential writers of the 20th Century.
The book that introduced her most famous creation, D’Avignon, was actually the first novel made public in her lifetime. It was also written with her son, Andree, who came into it after the author’s death. It is a highly successful book, with the plot running over the span of a week and chronicling the lives of four separate families in almost parallel fashion: D’Avignon, his wife, Celia, his stepdaughter, Minnie, and his former student, Fernand. This structure of family life gives it the feel of a true coming of age tale told in a modern setting, and also gives us an insight as to how familial relationships can be when one or both parents die or are otherwise unavailable to the child.
Following the death of her husband, Melissa continued in a professional career as a writer, travelling across Europe and writing a number of well-regarded novels, including The Sound Of Music, A Secular Pilgrimage, A Woman In Paris, and Last Paradise. She also established a long term relationship as an artist, exhibiting across Europe and America. However, her most famous creation would come to be as a film star. Dressed in her best dress for almost every role she accepted, Melissa was also a very accomplished actress, winning a number of awards for her roles. She died in 1980, following the death of her husband, Vincent, who was her closest ally throughout their years together.