Claudine's House

Colette's irresistible depiction of a childhood in rural France, in a lush new translation by Belinda Jack

'I was an independent, stray dog who answered to no one...'

Claudine lives in a large house with a rose-filled garden and a vegetable patch smelling of tomato leaves and apricots. Beyond her house is the village, where travelling performers stop for the night and wedding feasts take place under a bright summer moon. Inside her house are Mama, who loves animals, and Papa, who lost his leg in the war, and a library full of forbidden and irresistible books...

Based on Colette's own early life, Claudine's House is a rich and enchanting depiction of childhood, animals, flowers, trees, books, families and love in late-nineteenth-century France.