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  • Published: 2 March 2015
  • ISBN: 9780857981752
  • Imprint: Random House Australia
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 240

The Truth About French Women




The Truth About French Women shows us that French women really are fascinating, but not for the reasons you think.

The Truth About French Women shows us that French women really are fascinating, but not for the reasons you think.

French women have a mystique about them. They have, throughout the ages, been considered by some as a species apart – apparently flawless women, for whom sex and sensuality are central to their identity. But are French women really a model of elegance, always perfectly dressed with designer clothes as the stereotype would have us believe? Are they all intellectual, classy creatures with a perfect waistline, even if they eat croissants au beurre all day long? Are they all sexually liberated, wearing kinky lingerie and bedding other women’s husbands (seducing them with a bottle of champagne kept near the bed, of course) ?


The Truth About French Women focuses on who French women really are, and why they're more interesting than the clichés. It calls on women throughout French history who have defied societal norms and created their own destiny. French women who include heroines such as Jeanne d’Arc, the teenage girl who led the French army to success; the legendary sans culottes, who were instrumental during the French Revolution and Coco Chanel, who not only built a fashion empire, but also liberated women from the constraints of the corset, allowing an unprecedented amount of physical freedom for the fairer sex.

It’s also a study into the realities of everyday life for the contemporary French woman, and how she interprets love, art and politics.

  • Published: 2 March 2015
  • ISBN: 9780857981752
  • Imprint: Random House Australia
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 240

About the author

Marie Le Moel

Marie studied literature, English, political sciences and journalism at university. From 2007 till 2012, Marie was the correspondent for Le Monde and RFI, while living in Australia and was in charge of covering the news across Oceania. She also worked on the French radio program at SBS.

At the end of 2012 Marie moved back to Paris, where she works as a journalist for AFP. Marie’s books include Le goût de l'Australie for le Mercure de France, Dictionnaire insolite de l'Australie, for Cosmopole and Secrets of a Lazy French Cook for HarperCollins.

Praise for The Truth About French Women

Le Moel wants to restore the ordinary suburban French woman - as well as those of intellectual, political and cultural power - to their rightful place as individuals beyond the stereotypes. Watch this space: Le Moel might just be leading a new kind of French woman's revolution.

Susan Johnson, Courier Mail

It might look like yet another book about how French women stay slim, sexy and chic but rather than capitalising on the stereotypes, Marie-Morgane Le Moel is busting them. She does this by examining the reality of an "average" French woman's life as depicted by national statistics, before reflecting on the role played by French women in history and contemporary politics. One enviable truth that does not get a lot of attention is that they are able to balance work and motherhood with greater ease than women elsewhere because of France's comprehensive state-funded child-care system. While the sexed-up French woman might be a cliché, Le Moel happily acknowledges that the French do love "the game of seduction", which is as much about playful social interaction as it is about sex. Busting the myths, Le Moel shows, can be as entertaining as burnishing them.

Fiona Capp, The Age