Departures of note

Janine Boissard was born in Paris in 1932, the third child of a deputy governor of the Crédit foncier. Her childhood was shaped by six difficult years in boarding school, and she studied in the humanités féminines program before turning to writing, having first considered a career in song while admiring Hugo and Colette. In 1971 she became the first French woman to write for Gallimard's Série noire with B comme Baptiste.