Death of Janine Boissard, author of the Family Spirit saga, at the age of 93

A life and a work regulated like music paper. A popular fiber which gave it a place of choice in bookstores. Fayard, historic publisher of its saga L’Esprit de famille, announced the death of Janine Boissard at the age of 93. “We will remember his extreme kindness and his lively and mischievous sense of humor,” the publishing house wrote on social networks.

The Spirit of Family, a saga in six volumes published between 1977 and 1984, acquired the status of a literary phenomenon. Several hundred thousand copies of these family adventures, partly autobiographical, have been sold.

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Born in Paris in 1932, Janine Boissard was the third child of a father who was deputy governor of Crédit Foncier. His youth was marked by six painful years in boarding school. She took courses in women's humanities, the aim of which was to make perfect housewives. Janine Boissard is thinking instead of devoting herself to song, before throwing herself into literature, following in the footsteps of Hugo or Colette whom she admires. She was the first French woman to write for Gallimard's “Série Noire” with B for Baptiste, released in 1971.

Popular, sentimental and modern, the publications follow one another and meet with equal success, from Une femme en blanc to Marie-Tempête. Several directors have adapted his works, from Denis Malleval to Édouard Molinaro (A Family Not Like the Others). Her latest book, She spoke to the flowers, was released in 2023. Latest variation on the theme of family from a novelist who composed and recomposed relationships according to her prolific imagination.