author
Juliette Drouet
1806–1883
A French actress remembered as the devoted companion of Victor Hugo, she left the stage early but left behind a remarkable life story of loyalty, exile, and thousands of letters. Her long relationship with Hugo made her a quiet but lasting presence around one of France’s greatest writers.
1 Audiobook
Juliette Drouet's Love-Letters to Victor Hugo Edited with a Biography of Juliette Drouet
by Juliette Drouet, Louis Guimbaud
About the author
Born Julienne Joséphine Gauvain in 1806, Juliette Drouet was orphaned young and later became an actress in Paris under the name Juliette Drouet. Her stage career was brief, but it brought her into literary circles and led to the turning point of her life: meeting Victor Hugo during the 1830s.
After beginning her relationship with Hugo in 1833, she largely gave up acting and became his close companion, secretary, and traveling partner. She followed him through many years, including his exile to the Channel Islands, and is often remembered for the extraordinary devotion she showed him over nearly fifty years.
Drouet also has a story of her own apart from Hugo. She wrote thousands of letters, and those letters have made her an important witness to 19th-century French literary life. Today she is remembered not only as Hugo’s companion, but also as a vivid letter writer whose voice survived long after the salons and stages of her time had faded.