For those of you not familiar with the books, they were mostly written in the late 50s and early to mid 60s by a married couple - Anne and Serge Golon. They went under the pseudonym Sergeanne Golon. Actually, the writing was done primarily by Anne, while her husband, Serge, contributed a great deal of the background research. The story of these two authors is quite something in itself and contains many of the real-life elements we see in their novels. In the early 60s these books were the MOST POPULAR NOVELS IN THE WORLD. So, why does hardly anyone who speaks English know of them now, even though they are still very popular in many non-English-speaking countries? Good question! For whatever reason, the books have not been printed in English for more than two decades. Today, they are available only in second-hand bookstores specializing in hard-to-find books. Indeed, AT LEAST THREE BOOKS OF THE SERIES APPEAR NEVER TO HAVE BEEN TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH. It is the fervent wish of myself and a number of other persons to bring these books back onto the shelves so that future readers may enjoy them as much as we have and to get the last few books translated so that we ourselves may finish the story.

Another surprise even to many avid fans of the series is that SEVERAL OF THE BOOKS WERE MADE INTO MOVIES. Here again, they were never translated into English from the French. While they have been popular in France for more than three decades, most English speakers don't even know of their existence. I was only able to find out about them in the past year with the advent of the Internet Movie Data Base. Even so, finding a source of them was a struggle, but I managed. It took several months to receive them, and they cost me a pretty penny and were neither dubbed nor subtitled. Still, I enjoyed them immensely. The productions were beautiful, and in my opinion, Michele Mercier was perfectly cast as Angélique. Oh, did I tell you that I don't speak word one of French?!? It didn't hurt my enjoyment one bit. Unfortunately, today the movies are difficult to come by due to an on-going court case. However, if you can find them, they are now relatively inexpensive. For fans in Canada and the United States you might try the following address. They once sold them in NTSC standard as a very nice box set, although as I said, they may no longer be available:

For persons in Europe, you might try ordering them on the Internet from Alapage.

At one time, they also had DVD copies advertised, but again, that may not be the case today. Now, if you'll go on from here, I'll even show you some movie scenes taken from my own jacket covers of the individual movies. There were five movies in all.

In the first picture, taken from the front cover of Angélique: Marquise des Anges? we see Michele Mercier as Angélique in the palace of her first husband Joffrey de Peyrac played by Robert Hossein, who is looking on.

In the second scan, taken from Merveilleuse Angélique, Angélique is superimposed in the foreground and the Court of Miracles makes up the background.

In the third, also from Merveilleuse Angélique,we see Angélique in the Paris underworld having just retrieved her children watched over by her protector and lover Nicolas in the disguise of the criminal Calembredaine.

In the fourth scene, taken from Angélique et le Roy,Angélique being romanced by King Louis XIV is superimposed on Bahktiary Bey and his troops.

In the fifth scan, from Angélique et le Roy,Angélique is greeted by Louis XIV at a court function.

In the sixth picture, taken from Indomptable Angélique,Angélique on the slave auction block in Candia is superimposed on a scene from the ship of the Duc de Vivonne, a French admiral.

In the seventh, from Indomptable Angélique,Angélique and her friend apothocary Savary go off in search of Angélique's long lost husband, Joffrey de Peyrac.

In the eighth scene, also from Indomptable Angélique,Angélique accompanied by Joffrey is superimposed on a scene aboard the flagship of the Duc de Vivonne.

In the ninth, from Angélique et le Sultan,Angélique in her harem garb is superimposed on Moroccan troops in company with Mulai Ismail and Joffrey de Peyrac.

In the tenth and final scene from Angélique et le Sultan,Sultan of Morocco, Mulai Ismael presents Angélique a gift.

The series details the adventures of a French country girl, Angélique de Sancé, from childhood to mature woman. It takes place in the era of King Louis XIV, and the interweaving of historical fact with fiction is one of the real attractions to a history buff like myself. In fact, after first reading them, I became so interested in that period that I did a lot of research on my own about it. I was particularly fascinated to find the true historical characters were presented exactly as described in various writings at time. I felt that I was really able to meet the people in the story. Further, Anne Golon's in-depth characterizations were so realistic that it was often hard to distinguish the fictional characters from the ones who actually existed. On the whole it was a very easy way to learn a lot of history and enjoy an exciting story at the same time.

Without going into much detail, since there are many surprises in the books that I don't want to give away to a potential reader, Angélique's adventures take her from her rural home to Toulouse and an arranged marriage to the Comte de Peyrac, to the gutters of Paris, and to Versailles as the favorite of the King himself. Her travels lead her from France, throughout the Mediterranean, and to the New World. It's a fascinating ride all the way!

For readers in the United States, the novels published so far number nine, at least by the usual count. Some, such as the book Angélique were at times published as two separate books: Angélique, Marquise of Angels and Angélique, the Road to Versailles, so the exact titles and chronology may vary depending on which versions the reader gets. Most commonly, the order of the books is:
1. Angélique
2. Angélique and the King
3. Angélique in Barbary
4. Angélique in Revolt
5. Angélique in Love
6. The Countess Angélique
7. The Temptation of Angélique
8. Angélique and the Demon
9. Angélique and the Ghosts
Additionally, three books never before translated into English have been written since. The roughly-translated titles include:
10. Angélique in Quebec
11. Angélique, the Path of Hope
12. The Victory of Angélique
My fervent wish is to someday see these titles translated into English so that I and other readers who found themselves in the middle of a story at the end of Angélique and the Ghosts will be able to complete the entire series.

For potential readers who desire more information about the individual books, myself and other readers have written reviews of some of them listed by Amazon Books. Search for them using the title term "Angélique." For anyone interested in obtaining the books, the two which originally made up the first book, Angélique,have been reprinted as classic collectors' editions and are available through most major bookstores. The rest are available only as second-hand books. The best source I have found so far is the Advanced Book Exchange. The last time I looked, they had well over 1,000 titles available in several languages, many at very reasonable prices. I myself have replaced my entire series with good-quality hard-backs, and I have never been disappointed with their service. Happy hunting!!
 
 

Interest in the Angélique series has increased dramatically since I first put up this page six years ago. Anne Golon is currently writing two more books envisioned to be the termination of the series. There is increasing interest in having the entire series reissued and finally having the remaining books translated into English. In support of these goals, a number of fans of Anne Golon and the books have formed an official fan club called the Friends of Angélique. As a means to obtaining our objectives of getting the books back on the shelves and building interest in the project, the club now has an official site designed professionally by Graham Carter in the United Kingdom. He has done a spectacular job, and even though the site is still in the construction phase, already there is a lot of information to be found there for aficionados and prospective readers. Whether you are interested in joining our fan club or not, feel free to take a look and to join in on our discussions and activities

A big gap on the Internet was finally filled when the first French web page about Anne Golon was created by Brigitte Collet at her site dedicated to a number of authors. For those of you who read French and would like to hear what one of Anne's countrywomen has to say about Anne's writing and her place in comparison with a number of other great authors, go to Brigitte's Authologies site. Brigitte has also since put up a wonderful English site with lots of book cover pictures from all over the world. For a real treat, take a look at her Monteloup site.

There are now a number of excellent sites from various countries around the world. To think that only about six short years ago there were no Internet sites about these books at all and only a very small email group of about five persons keeping a small candle lit, as it were. It's extremely gratifying to see how far we've come, but there's a lot more to do to get these wonderful books back up to the status they deserve in modern literature..
 
 

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