Cécile Desprairies
Cécile Desprairies is a French writer. Her works have focused on French collaboration with Nazi Germany during World War II.
Works
In 2012, she released L'Héritage de Vichy - Ces 100 mesures toujours en vigueur, covering a number of laws passed by Vichy France that still had legal effect in France.[1][2]
In 2019, she released a follow-up book, L'Héritage allemand de l'Occupation - Ces 60 dispositions toujours en vigueur, covering a number of measures imposed by Nazi Germany on occupied France that still had legal effect.[3]
In 2023, she released her first novel, La Propagandiste. A work of autofiction, the novel dramatises her own family's history of collaboration, including her mother and her great-uncle. The novel received widespread acclaim, and was longlisted for the 2023 Prix Goncourt. An English translation, translated by Natasha Lehrer, was released in 2025.[4][5] In 2025, Desprairies' brother and cousin sued her for defamation, accusing her of "a genuine act of family vengeance."[6]
References
- ^ de Saint Victor, Jacques (13 November 2012). "L'Héritage de Vichy de Cécile Desprairies". Le Figaro. Retrieved 14 January 2026.
- ^ Lorrain, François-Guillaume (11 October 2012). "Ces lois que Vichy nous a léguées". Le Point. Retrieved 14 January 2026.
- ^ Valloire, Frédéric (20 March 2019). "L'Héritage allemand de l'Occupation". Le Figaro. Retrieved 14 January 2026.
- ^ Scholes, Lucy (7 May 2025). "The Propagandist — Cécile Desprairies' novel explores her family's wartime shame". Financial Times. Retrieved 14 January 2026.
- ^ Grey, Tobias (9 October 2024). "How a 'National Family Secret in France' Inspired Her Novel". The New York Times. Retrieved 14 January 2026.
- ^ Oltermann, Philip (12 January 2026). "'Act of family vengeance': French defamation case highlights perils of writing autofiction". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 January 2026.