Biography

Here comes a technical data sheet of the author : (see under a map of Paris with the landmarks 1 to 5 of my text)

Juliette Benzoni was born as Andrée-Marguerite-Juliette Mangin, October 30th 1920 at Paris, avenue de la Bourdonnais.
 

Her father Charles-Hubert Mangin was a manufacturer native from Lorraine and her mother Marie-Suzanne Arnold was from Champagne with Alsatian and Swiss origins. She lived her childhood essentially in Saint-Germain-des-Près, in the house where Mérimée, Corot and Ampère used to live on the 12th of “Rue des Beaux-Arts”, facing the house where Oscar Wilde died (in 1900, in “Hôtel Alsace” at number 13th).

At the age 15, she moved with her parents to Saint-Mandé near the woods of Vincennes and its Zoo! 

She went first at “Cours Désir” then to Fenelon highschool at “rue de l’Eperon”.

But this is finally at Hulst college, “rue de Varenne” that she was graduated!

  

 After that, she passed a degree at the Catholic Institut

She get married in 1941 to the doctor Maurice Gallois, went to live at Dijon where she has visited every library to learn the History of Burgundy. She has given birth to 2 children Anne and Jean-François. But her husband died in 1950. She has moved in Morocco where lived her husband’s family and met there André Benzoni that she married in 1953. Back in Paris, she became a historic journalist, in “Confidences” among others. She now lives in Saint-Mandé where her husband used to be a deputy mayor until his death in 1982.

Here comes some photos of this little city on the edge of Paris and near the woods of Vincennes (the cityhall, the church, the lack, the hospital then 2 differents old houses) :

     

he likes reading, listening to music, sailing … and cooking ; the History and any kind of Art, old houses and rough jewels. She discribes herself as : Catholic and myopic ! xxx

What’s on Juliette’s bookshelves?

 

The collections – I’m sure complete or almost – of Agatha Christie, Anne Perry and Antony Morton (John Creasey’s pseudonym for the bookseries of  ”The Baron”). NDon’t ask anymore why Juliette enjoyed so much writing her bookseries of Morosini (her own words you can read in Mistral’s interview you can read HERE)

- she has writen at least 2 books a year since 1964, the last one, the 86th is publihed by Plon since January 2016 a few days before she passed away

- she has over 50 millions of readers all around the world

- she has sold more than 300 millions of books in France and foreign countries

- she was translated in over now 30 languages (all books together)

- she received the Alexandre Dumas Prix in  1973

- she has founded the Alexandre Dumas Trophy

- she received in january of 1998, the “Chevalier de l’ordre national du Mérite” decoration (the 4th french national decoration)

 

Unfortunately, our beloved author passed away at her home
the 7th of February 2016, she was 95 years old :’(

The 31th of October, then the 27th of February, The Mistral/JouJou connection had the great honor to meet our dear Juliette

Come and have a look at the reports of these amazing events : HERE