Archives par étiquette : Sophie Villard

MADEMOISELLE EIFFEL UND DER TURM DER LIEBE de Sophie Villard

Opulent, emotional and irresistible: the inspirational story of Gustave Eiffel’s daughter.

MADEMOISELLE EIFFEL UND DER TURM DER LIEBE
(Mademoiselle Eiffel and the Tower of Love)
by Sophie Villard
Penguin Germany, April 2023

Paris, 1887. Gustave Eiffel wants to build the tallest tower in the world, yet no one seems to have faith that his absurd steel colossus will be finished in time for the World’s Fair – except, that is, for his bold daughter Claire. At a time when it is still thought unseemly for a woman to go for a walk on her own, she is her father’s most valued advisor. But Eiffel has to contend with more than deadlines. Paris’s cultural elite, led by Guy de Maupassant and Alexandre Dumas, think their city is being mutilated, and are taking a stand. Claire has her own worries too: her husband, young engineer Adolphe, is in charge of the high-risk construction of the tower’s top, and her fears for his safety are threatening to destroy their marriage. Then a worker is killed in a fall, and Claire meets handsome reporter Gordon Bennett, who promises her a carefree new life in America. Will she choose the Eiffel Tower, or a future in the New World?

Sophie Villard is the pen name of a successful German author. She studied journalism and political science, and lives near Dresden with her family. Her novel about the famous art collector Peggy Guggenheim was a Spiegel bestseller.

MADAME EXUPÉRY UND DIE STERNE DES HIMMELS de Sophie Villard

With him, her dreams learned to fly. But they came too close to the stars.

MADAME EXUPÉRY UND DIE STERNE DES HIMMELS
(Madame Exupéry and the Starry Skies)
by Sophie Villard
Penguin Germany, September 2021

Paris, 1930. When the young artist Consuelo meets Antoine de Saint-Exupéry at a party, it’s love at first sight. The temperamental Salvadorean becomes the muse of the enigmatic pilot, who would much rather be writing and drawing than flying planes.
His deep love for her inspired « The Little Prince »: Consuelo is the beloved rose that the prince protects with a glass globe, and which is always in his thoughts no matter where his travels take him.
The book made Antoine world-famous, but life by his side was not easy. Consuelo had to deal with his unfaithfulness, and fought hard to establish herself as an artist in her own right – until 1944, when Antoine took off on his fateful flight across the Mediterranean …

Sophie Villard is the pen name of a successful German author. She studied journalism and political science, and lives near Dresden with her family. Her novel about the famous art collector Peggy Guggenheim was a Spiegel bestseller, and her new book as well is about another inspiring and important female figure: Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s wife and muse Consuelo, to whom we owe the story of the Little Prince.