The fabulous destinies of Stéphanie des Horts, a meeting with a novel heroine

With her slender silhouette, deep gaze and lively pace, Stéphanie des Horts resembles a character in one of her novels, a heroine of her own life poised between fiction and reality.

The Hôtel de Lille invited this neighbour and friend to share a pleasant evening as her latest novel, Doris, le Secret de Churchill is published by Albin Michel editions.

“My ties with the Hotel de Lille are woven in a love of our quarter, the Carré des Antiquaires and our common passion for literature,” she says.

Writing one book per year, all devoted to personalities with larger-than-life destinies, Stéphanie des Horts makes history and its hidden secrets pulse with vibrant life as she introduces us to seductive women united by their audacity in tales in which the conquest of power mixes with that of the heart.

A biographer, historian and novelist, Stéphanie subtly plays on all registers by bringing us into the intimate worlds of beautiful adventurers, revealing their many facets in breathtaking stories.

Stéphanie focusses on biographical novels. Pamela, Les Soeurs Livanos, Jacky and Lee and Jeanne Toussaint in La Panthère are women with iron wills and silken gloves.

“Often it is difficult for me to separate myself from my heroines as I have existed in close proximity to them for months. I live intensely with them, I share their emotions, their sorrows, their lovers!

In 12 years and with more than 10 books to her credit, Stéphanie des Horts, who is published by Albin Michel, has immersed us in the lives of Pamela Harriman, the Fitzgerald and Murphy couples, Jackie Kennedy and her sister Lee Radziwill and, most recently, Doris, a hot-blooded British adventurer from the Roaring Twenties who boasts the motto, “An Englishwoman's bed is her kingdom”.

Her works, which blend humour and darkness, seduction and glamour, are hugely successful.

Wielding her gift for compelling storytelling, Stéphanie des Horts has built her own destiny, beginning in her peaceful hometown of Tours, where as a child and young woman she withered away in provincial gentleness, through to taking her first steps in the literary world. She became a reader for the 10/18 and Pocket editions, a translator, a ghost writer and, finally, a biographical novelist.

“Each book is the result of a great deal of research and archival work.”

Every day at dawn, a small light comes on in the Rue de Verneuil, a sign that Stéphanie is hard at work.

"I write every day from 5:00, when it's still dark and everything is clear, before going for a run along the banks of the Seine towards the Jardin des Tuileries. I love that garden. I have my appointments with the sculptures and particularly like the bust of Charles Perrault surrounded by children and Puss in Boots, the women of Maillol and the wonderful couple by Paul Belmondo.”

Her life is made up of encounters. So is that of the Hôtel de Lille. That is our raison d'être. Historical destinies and stories rock the streets of our Saint-Germain-des-Prés district.

To be a Parisian in Saint-Germain-des-Prés, a writer, and free, is a beautiful way to live!

Colombe de la Taille

 Stéphanie’s favourite places in the neighbourhood:

• Café de l'Empire, 13 Rue du Bac, my favourite canteen with Robin, Pierre, Corto, Eva, Victoria, Latifa, Léo and the wonderful cooks.
• Librairie Kogan, 17 Rue du Bac, Brigitte and Alain have the latest literary novelties, art books and all the DVDs that we love!
• Au Verger d'Alice, 35 Rue de Verneuil, the best fruits in Paris are offered by Simon and Alizée.
• Dessange salon, where my hairdresser Grégory works his magic, at 15 Rue des Saints Pères.
• Maison Guyard, my favourite caterer, at 42 Rue de Verneuil.
• Bona Fide, Sarah makes the most beautiful candles in the world, Show Room at 48 Rue de Verneuil.