The death of the author, artist, campaigner that was Anne Golon
Anne Golon, if she had to die, did so on a historic date in the French Calendar. We learned of her death in the early hours of Friday, 14th July, 2017. Celebrated throughout France as 'Bastille Day' an event that occurred after the life and adventures of Angélique, Marquise des Anges, Countess Peyrac.
The death of a friend
Harvey Adkins, President of Friends of Angélique, died on Saturday, June 23, 2007.
Harvey, a lifelong admirer of Anne Golon's work, leaves a wife and two children, and will be missed by all those who knew him - including those members of the Angélique fraternity who never actually met him face-to-face.
Please read our tribute to him.
Legal victory for Anne
Anne Golon has won her battle over publishing rights to her Angélique stories.
After a legal battle in France lasting nearly a decade, she has finally reached an agreement which makes her the sole owner of the works.
Details are still being clarified, but the way now seems clear for Anne to re-publish the books and publish previously unpublished works - and be assured of income from sales.
Welcome...
... to the official English language Angélique website, a celebration of the 13-book series of stories credited to Sergeanne Golon - one of the pen names adopted by the great French authoress, Anne Golon (right).
This website is an exciting new chapter in the remarkable story of Angélique, the heroine who took historical fiction to new heights when the books were first published in the late 1950s.
Now her epic adventures in 17th century France are all set to propel Anne Golon back into the bestseller lists.
Readers who have enjoyed reading the Angélique stories over the years will be pleased to know that the author is alive, although not in the best of health, and living near Paris - ironically a stone's throw away from the Palace of Versailles, which features in some of the Angélique stories.
Her husband Serge, who collaborated on the first books, sadly died in 1972 when Anne was beginning research on the tenth book in the series.
The Angélique books proved an international success of gigantic proportions. Estimates of the total number of Angélique books sold worldwide are upwards of 150 million, and they have been published in at least 63 countries, by at least 320 different publishers.
Sadly, in more recent years Anne has fought a battle with French agents and publishers over the rights to the stories, and the fight went to court.
But Anne has remained in good spirits thanks to the support of her daughter, Nadia, and of Nadia's friends and colleagues Iva Garo and Régile. The three friends and colleagues are painters, sculptors, stage managers and cultural events organisers who have sacrificed their careers for almost 20 years to help Anne protect her rights to the Angélique books in her battle with her publisher, which is falsely claiming to own the rights.
In November 1995 the court duly restored the rights to the author but the ex-agents (mainly Hachette Livres, part of the giant Aerospatial group that dominates French industry and the French media) appealed. They have been using a variety of legal manoeuvres to repeatedly delay the final appeal ever since.
In March 1996 Archange International was founded to manage the rights of the Angélique books and other works by Anne Golon, the founding members being Anne herself, Iva, Régile and Nadia, who have worked day and night for Anne's cause.
They have taken on the might of Hachette and other organisations that have exploited Anne's work, involved themselves in civil actions, defended Anne's work, and are planning new publications and ways to expose Anne's work to a new public.
In 1997 Nadia discovered Harvey Adkins' Angélique web pages (see the Angélinks section) and sent a message there explaining Anne's plight. That has led to this website where, at last, the true facts can be revealed.
Anne has also been greatly encouraged by the Angélique readers who have formed an official 'fan club' and regularly contribute to the Web-based mailing list (see the link in the menu, left).
With the new company, Archange International, now handling the stories on behalf of Anne Golon and acting as her literary agent, working with subagents in several countries, there is every reason to look forward to the future.
That future will include the publishing of the new Integral, a new 'author's cut' version of the first two Angélique books (Marquise of the Angels and The Road to Versailles) which corrects errors and reintroduces essential sections of the original book that were cut or changed by the French publisher.
It also includes translations of the final three books in the series, which have never previously been published in English, and a new version of one of those books correcting major changes made to the book by the publisher without Anne Golon's consent.
These are currently in the process of being translated - a task which should be complete soon. Expect to see at least part of them available as e-books in the near future.
Another project is an animated film, based on the books, and Anne has been busy editing the script for this.
But the good news doesn't end there. Anne is not only currently working on the fourteenth book in the series, but has also promised a fifteenth.
Angélique is back.
Original 'World of Angélique' website created by Graham Carter who retains the ©
Archived 'World of Angélique' website can be found at Web Archive Org
This recreation comes under the authority and protection for preservation purposes of www.jannaludlow.co.uk who retains the © of this version
Page created : 7th April 2017 - refreshed : 2nd August 2017