Zénaïde Fleuriot

Zénaïde-Marie-Anne Fleuriot (28 October 1829 -19 December 1890), was a French novelist. She wrote eighty three novels, all aimed at young women, most of which were published in the series Bibliothèque rose and Bibliothèque bleue. Her writings were initially published under the pseudonym Anna Edianez, Edianez being an anagram of Zénaïde and Anna being derived from one of her own given names, Anne. She also wrote under the names Anna Edianez de Saint-B. and Anna Edianez de L.

Zénaïde Fleuriot was born in Saint-Brieuc, Brittany to a devoutly Catholic and Royalist family, faithful to the Bourbons. Her parents had sixteen children of which only five survived. Her father, Jean-Marie, having lost his mother as a child, was brought up by his uncle, a priest, who was shot by the Revolutionaries in Brest in 1794 for refusing to sign the Civil Constitution of the Clergy. At the age of fourteen he had fought in the Battle of Austerlitz (1802). Repatriated in 1806, he turned to the study of law, becoming an advocate in Saint-Brieuc. During the July Monarchy he lost his fortune and his job after attacking the régime in the aftermath of the 1830 Revolution. Zenaïde Fleuriot was deeply influenced by the political and religious milieu of her family environment.

Between 1849 and 1860, she worked as governess to the children of the Guillotou family in Kerever, staying in Saint-Brieuc during the winter and in Château-Billy, Ploufragan, during the summer. During this period she produced a significant number of novels, which gave her financial independence.

In 1867, suffering from depression, she contemplated abandoning literature. Her deep Christianity led her to dream of living a sequestered religious life. In Rome, she met Princess Carolyne zu Sayn-Wittgenstein, another Catholic writer, who became her confidante. Wittgenstein convinced her to continue with her literary career. She resumed literary work. In 1871 she founded and later led a vocational school intended to promote youth employment.

In the spring of 1872, Fleuriot visited her deceased brother’s children and their mother at the seaside town of Locmariaquer. She fell in love with this little port, acquiring a large estate in 1873 with a magnificent view over the Gulf of Morbihan. She built a house which she named "Kermoareb" (meaning "My Aunt’s House" in the Breton language). It was here that she wrote one of her best-known novels, Petit chef de famille.

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