The author with the fifty novels sold in more than 15 million copies, sometimes adapted to television, died on December 25, at the age of 70 years.
By Florent Georgesco
Romancière of prosperous families and beautiful houses, which never derogated from the principle of Happy End, Françoise Bourdin did not have a pronounced slope for the bad mood. Except that it was better to avoid telling her that she was “discreet”: “I am not discreet at all! It’s just that no one solicited me …”, she was annoying the world in 2019. The shock was nevertheless great when the Editis group, owner of its historic publisher, Belfond, announced the unexpected death, on December 25, of the successful author, who was not used to reporting her possible problems health. The same discretion also prevailed about its exact date of birth. We just know that, born in 1952, she was 70 years old.
In fact, another discretion accompanied this natural modesty: the one imposed on it by the disinterest that the press can have for popular literature. Now, popular, Françoise Bourdin was at an extreme degree. His fifty novels have sold more than 15 million copies. Many have been adapted to television. In view, its media presence, inversely proportional, was pale figure.
However, no contempt emerges from most of the articles which, over time, his novels have nevertheless ended up being the subject. “No fomistics here, nor hysteria” (Liberation); “It must be recognized the accuracy of its gaze on French society” (L’Express); “A drama that is both contemporary and timeless” (L’Obs) … Everyone, on the “Best Sellers” department, cannot boast of having aroused such respectful judgments. In this regard, Françoise Bourdin occupied a singular place. That of a figure that undoubtedly made more attractive than others a universe and a course no less singular.
a first novel at 19 years old
of this one, we know above all the beginnings, of which she spoke more readily than the rest of her life. His childhood in a mansion in Neuilly-sur-Seine (Hauts-de-Seine), where his parents, the lyric singers Roger Bourdin and Géori Boué, led a big train. The departure of her mother, who plays everything, husband and children, when she is 8 years old. The move to a Parisian apartment. The passion for horse riding, in adolescence. The death, in a horse accident, of the young man she loved.
She publishes at 19 years old a first novel, Les Soleils wet (Julliard, 1972), inspired by this tragedy – it will be her only book -autobiographical book. A second follows, of yellow herb waves (Julliard, 1973), suitable for television by Josée Dayan. She seems on the rails of a brilliant career. But no, that doesn’t interest him. She gets married, takes care of her family. And silence lasts almost twenty years. Then she divorces, and publishes again, frightened, she says, to be “nothing”. The success, in 1994, of the harvest in July (BELIF), made this final return. She will no longer leave her work table or the lists of the best sales.
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