Anne Golon

Anne Golon (born 17 December 1921, Toulon, Var) is a French author, better known to English-speaking readers as Sergeanne Golon. She has written a series of novels about a heroine Angelique.

Born Simone Changeux in Toulon, a port in south-eastern France, was the daughter of Pierre Changeux, a scientist and a captain in the French Navy. She was interested in painting and writing from early childhood and published her first novel, The Country from behind my Eyes, when she was 18 under the pen name Joëlle Danterne. During World War II she travelled via bicycle through France to Spain. She wrote using different pen-names, helped to create France Magazine, and was awarded a literary prize for The Patrol of the Saint Innocents.

She was sent to Africa as a journalist, where she met Vsevolod Sergeïvich Goloubinoff, her future husband, Serge Golon. They collaborated on Angélique, Marquise of the Angels (1956), the first book in the series. The book was an overnight success. When originally published in France, the books were credited to Serge and Anne Golon, Anne being the author and husband Serge having done much of the historical research. The two names were merged into Sergeanne Golon by the British publishers when the books were translated.

The popularity of the books led to two films made in 1964 by Bernard Borderie. The actress Michèle Mercier played Angelique, and Robert Hossein played her husband, Joffrey de Peyrac.

In 1972, Anne and Serge Golon went to Canada to continue their research. That year, as Anne wrote Angélique and the Ghosts, Serge died.

Anne carried on writing and brought up her four children at the same time. Between Serge's death and 1985, Anne wrote four more volumes, beginning with the second half of Ghosts (both portions published in French as a single volume, Angelique in Quebec) and proceeding through Angélique's Victory.

Anne Golon was reduced to a state close to poverty and filed a lawsuit against the French publisher Hachette for abuse of copyright and for her unpaid royalties. She won her battle over the publishing rights to her Angélique stories. After a legal battle in France lasting nearly a decade, she reached an agreement which left her the sole owner of the works.

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