author
Ida Saint-Elme
1778–1845
A scandalous memoirist of the Napoleonic era, she turned a famously adventurous life into bestselling recollections full of soldiers, travel, and rumor. Writing under the name “la Contemporaine,” she became known as much for her bold persona as for the stories she told.
8 Audiobooks
Mémoires d'une contemporaine. Tome 8 Souvenirs d'une femme sur les principaux personnages de la République, du Consulat, de l'Empire, etc...
by Ida Saint-Elme
Mémoires d'une contemporaine. Tome 1 Souvenirs d'une femme sur les principaux personnages de la République, du Consulat, de l'Empire, etc...
by Ida Saint-Elme
Mémoires d'une contemporaine. Tome 4 Souvenirs d'une femme sur les principaux personnages de la République, du Consulat, de l'Empire, etc...
by Ida Saint-Elme
Mémoires d'une contemporaine. Tome 3 Souvenirs d'une femme sur les principaux personnages de la République, du Consulat, de l'Empire, etc...
by Ida Saint-Elme
Mémoires d'une contemporaine. Tome 6 Souvenirs d'une femme sur les principaux personnages de la République, du Consulat, de l'Empire, etc...
by Ida Saint-Elme
Mémoires d'une contemporaine. Tome 5 Souvenirs d'une femme sur les principaux personnages de la République, du Consulat, de l'Empire, etc...
by Ida Saint-Elme
About the author
Born Maria Johanna Elselina Versfelt, Ida Saint-Elme was a Dutch writer, actress, and adventurer associated with the upheavals of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic years. She is often described under several names, including Ida Saint-Elme and “la Contemporaine,” the persona attached to her most famous books.
She is best remembered for Mémoires d’une contemporaine, a sprawling memoir series that drew on her travels and her connections with military and political figures of the time. The books were widely read, though modern sources also note that they are at least partly unreliable, which only adds to their fascination as a mix of firsthand experience, performance, and self-invention.
Saint-Elme’s life has continued to attract interest because it sits at the crossroads of literature, celebrity, and history. For listeners coming to her work today, she offers a lively, unpredictable voice from the Napoleonic world—one that feels personal even when it blurs the line between memory and myth.