In France children since the 19th century grew up with the stories of Comtesse de Ségur. The tales of Sophie the impish little girl always getting into trouble and trying to learn from her mistakes still shape generations.
Comtesse de Ségur was born as Sophie Rostpchine in St Petersburg on August 1, 1799. Her family was of Russian nobility that dated back to Genghis Kahn. Her father, Count Fiodor Rostopchine was a lieutenant in the army and later the mayor of Moscow. In 1812 Napoleon and his Imperial army had Russia in his sights and when the Count heard he decided to evacuate the city and set fire to all of Moscow. When Napoleon arrived the city was in flames. More than 11,000 homes and businesses were destroyed and as the residents returned the Count and family were public enemy number one.
The Rostopchine family fled to Poland, Germany, Italy and finally France in 1817. Young Sophie found a community of other expats and her future husband. Éugene de Segur who came from a long line of French military. The two married on July 13, 1819 and it had a few good years and then he returned to his old ways with the ladies. They had to have had a few good moments because the marriage resulted in eight children.
Living at the Chateau des Nouettes in Normandy, a gift from her father as her children grew up and left to have their own families. In 1849, at 50 years old Sophie began to write stories for her grandchildren. Each of the stories had a moral and were not always filled with rainbows and butterflies. She used the names of her children and grandchildren in the stories but her most popular was based on her life and shared her name.
Growing up her mother was horrible. She was often locked in a room for days at a time without any food or water. In public she would be hit and ridiculed and all of that stayed with her and came out on the pages of her stories.
At first they were just for her family but they were quickly shared with others. Her husband was not the president of the Compagnie des Chemins de Fer de l’Est rail company. Friends with Louis Hachette who also started the very first publishing company in France, he read the stories and wanted to publish them. Hachette also had a big idea of setting up a newsstand in the Gare de Lyon, the first of its kind in 1852. That little newsstand turned into Relay which is found on four continents and over 1600 train & metro stations, hospitals and airports.
Hachette published her “new fairy tales” as she named them and sold them in his series of the Pink Library for children ages 6 to 12 that are still published today. Sophie’s deal with Hachette named her as the author and allowed her the copyright and royalties from all sales, unheard of for a woman at the time and in the following decades.
In 1863 Éugene died and in the following years Sophie became a Franciscan nun, Sister Marie-François, but continued to write fairy tales. When the sales of her books declined she was forced to sell her chateau and moved to 27 Rue Casimi-Perier in the 7e near Sainte-Clotilde. She would die here on February 1, 1874 at 74 years old.
Her stories are still popular today and have been reproduced many times and also made into movies and tv shows. Ségur’s most popular was based on her own childhood and at times is quite disturbing. In the Sophie series the young girl lashes out, often playing horrible tricks on her cousin Paul and neighbor girls, giving them tea scooped from the dirty dog water and sugar cubes of chalk. Her mother’s beloved goldfish were chopped up to be fed to her doll, leaving her mother and the staff at their wits' end. A trip to America would change the entire family when a ship caused the disappearance and death of her mother at sea. Little Sophie and her father survived and he quickly remarried and after a short illness passed away.
Now Sophie was left with her stepmother who was based on the real mother of the Comtesse. A hard and brutal woman that yelled at her and beat her. Returning to France and her former home she was thankfully reunited with friends whose parents took Sophie under their wing and showed her what a loving family should be.
As recently as 2016, the story of Sophie hit the big screen in France and can be found online. The children of the Comtesse went on to keep her memory alive as well as write their own stories.
Today you can find a bust of the Comtesses de Ségur in the western corner of the Jardin du Luxembourg. Created by Jean Boucher, it was inaugurated in this spot in 1910.