Sophie's Misfortunes

Sophie's Misfortunes (French: Les Malheurs de Sophie) is a children's book written by the Countess of Ségur. The book was published in 1858 by the publisher Hachette. The illustrations were by Horace Castelli, a French artist. This is the first book of a trilogy; its sequels are Good Little Girls (1858) and The Holidays (1859).

The story is set in a castle in the French countryside, during the Second French Empire. Sophie is a mischievous girl who lives with her parents, Monsieur and Madame de Réan.

The success of Sophie's Misfortunes has been constant through the years and still goes on today; the book has been republished many times. Overseas, as well, it has been very successful. Vladimir Nabokov alluded to it in his novel Ada (1969), making up a novel called Sophie's Sophisms [Les Sophismes de Sophie] by a so-called "Miss Stopchin", as well Les Malheurs de Swann, a title which combines Countess of Ségur and Marcel Proust. In the United Kingdom, the book was used as reference material to teach young girls French translation (boys would be trained using L'Histoire d'un conscrit de 1813, written by Erckmann-Chatrian).

• Sophie de Réan
• Monsieur and Madame de Réan, Sophie's parents
• Paul d'Auber, Sophie's cousin
• Camille and Madeleine de Fleurville, Sophie's friends

The book has inspired numerous film and television adaptations, including:

• Sophie's Misfortunes (1946), by Jacqueline Audry.
• Sophie's Misfortunes (1979), by Jean-Claude Brialy.
• Sophie's Misfortunes (2016), by Christophe Honoré.^[1]

• In 1935, French composer Jean Françaix wrote a ballet called Les Malheurs de Sophie (32 minutes, published by Schott).
• Les Bonheurs de Sophie, piano sheet music by Chantal Auber, La Pléiade, Préparatoire 1.
• "Les Malheurs de Sophie", sung by Chantal Goya, a song from the movie made by Jean-Claude Brialy.
• Les Malheurs de Sophie (2011), a musical by Virginie Aguzzoli.

Les Malheurs de Sophie (1998) is the only animated adaptation of Sophie's Misfortune and has enjoyed a cult success in the french-speaking world.

Created by Bernard Deyriès with voices by

• Julie Legout : Sophie de Réan
• Barbara Tissier : Adult Sophie de Réan adulte (episode 26)
• Gwenaël Sommier : Paul d'Aubert (episodes 1 to 8)
• Mathieu Laurent : Paul d'Aubert (episodes 21 to 26)
• Alexandre Gillet : Adult Paul d'Aubert (episode 26)
• Mélanie Laurent : Camille de Fleurville
• Malvina Germain : Adult Madeleine de Fleurville (episode 26) / Élisa
• Kelly Marot : Marguerite de Rosbourg
• Valérie Siclay : Adult Marguerite de Rosbourg (episode 26) / Lucie / Madame Chéneau
• Sylvie Feit : Léon de Rugès / Mina
• Donald Reignoux : Jean de Rugès
• Tony Marot : Adult Jean de Rugès (episode 26)
• Céline Monsarrat : Madame de Réan
• Daniel Gall : Monsieur Henry Louis Hubert de Réan / Lambert / André / Nicaise / Doctor Forestier (episode 20) / Lawyer of Madame de Fleurville (episode 25)
• Monique Thierry : Madame Fedora Marie Alexandrine Fichini
• Claire Guyot : Madame d'Aubert / Miss Albion
• Anne Jolivet : Madame de Fleurville
• Rafaèle Moutier : Madame de Rosbourg
• Régis Reuilhac : Commander de Rosbourg
• Jean-Claude Robbe : Monsieur de Rugès
• David Lesser : Augustin
• Philippe Dumat : Gabriel / Doctor Forestier (episodes 4 & 11) / Doctor Alliotte / The priest (episode 10)
• Sarah Marot : Albertine Simonet (episode 17)
• Noémie Orphelin : Pauline de Rosbourg (episode 26)

The series was developed by Alya Animation and aired on France 3.

There are 26 episodes in total. It shows the titular character, Sophie’s life from when she was a child to adulthood and the hardships throughout her life.

The series now has many different YouTube channels with all of the episodes with both French and English audio. The TV series also tells the stories of the sequel books ‘Good Little Girls’ and ‘The Holidays’, making it a full story of Sophie's life and a complete adaptation of the ‘Fleurville Trilogy’.

• Les Nouveaux Malheurs de Sophie, a novel by Valérie Dayre
• Les Malheurs de Sophie, audio version (in French)

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