My review of Michele Roberts’ book, Colette, My Literary Mother, is up at Shiny New Books!
I absolutely loved this book, and if you’ve ever read and enjoyed Colette, then I’d warmly recommend it. If you’ve never read Colette, then it’s worth considering any of the four texts that Roberts looks at in detail: My Mother’s House/ La Maison de Claudine, a memoir in fragments of Colette’s childhood, Break of Day/La Naissance du jour, a genre-defying text that celebrates the strength, power, and capacity for joy of the menopausal Colette, Cheri, her best known novel, and Rainy Moon/La Lune de pluie, one of her most uncanny and clever short stories. I wrote half my PhD on Colette and despite that, I love her work still. She tells us – and shows us – how to be sane.
