author
comtesse de Elisabeth Galos Houdetot
1841–1925
A French woman of letters from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, she wrote fiction with a light touch and a clear moral sense. Her best-known work turns an everyday object into a playful storyteller, blending humor, social observation, and warmth.
1 Audiobook
Les Mémoires d'un Parapluie
by comtesse de Elisabeth Galos Houdetot
About the author
Born in Paris on June 15, 1841, and later known as the comtesse de Houdetot, Élisabeth Galos was a French writer. French reference sources identify her as a femme de lettres, and records connected with her family place her life between Paris and Bordeaux.
She published under the name Comtesse de Houdetot and is associated with works for general readers and younger audiences. Les Mémoires d'un parapluie, published in 1894, is one of the clearest surviving examples of her style: imaginative, gently satirical, and interested in everyday character and behavior.
Although she is not among the most widely remembered French authors today, her work still has charm for modern listeners because it brings wit and feeling to ordinary life. What stands out most is the way she uses simple storytelling to hint at larger ideas about kindness, vanity, and social class.