Alexandra Lapierre is a French author of novels, biographies, and short stories.

Early life and education

Alexandra Lapierre is the daughter of the French writer and philanthropist

Dominique Lapierre Dominique Lapierre (30 July 1931 – 2 December 2022) was a French author. Life Dominique Lapierre was born in Châtelaillon-Plage, Charente-Maritime, France. At the age of thirteen, he travelled to the U.S. with his father who was a diplomat ...

. After graduating from the Sorbonne, Lapierre studied at the

American Film Institute The American Film Institute (AFI) is an American nonprofit film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the motion picture arts in the United States. AFI is supported by private funding and public membership fees. Leade ...

and then enrolled at the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

, where she learned storytelling.

Critical reception

A review by Autumn Stephens in the ''

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. de ...

'' describes ''Fanny Stevenson: A Romance of Destiny'' as a "provocative, highly readable biography." Brenda Maddox writes in a review of ''Fanny Stevenson'' for ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'' that Lapierre "offers dialogue as well as smells, inner thoughts, even hand gestures, in such minute detail that even her subjects could not verify them were they to rise from the grave for interviews." Jill Rachlin writes in a review for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' that "Though a 1994 biography of Robert Louis Stevenson by Frank McLynn suggested that his wife, Fanny, favored Hyde rather than Jekyll in disposition, the novelist Alexandra Lapierre paints a far more compassionate portrait of her tempestuous subject in the wide-ranging and entertaining "Fanny Stevenson."" A review by ''

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of B ...

'' states, "Though some readers may demur at the highly novelistic approach and effusive prose, Lapierre provides ballast by creating dialogue from lines taken from the couple's letters and Robert's essays." A ''Publishers Weekly'' review of ''Artemisia'' says the novel "succeeds more as history than as literature, but it makes history very hard to put down." A review by Peter Bricklebank for ''The New York Times'' describes the novel as "enthralling," and states that it "employs admirable artistry in depicting the turbulent life and times of two great painters." A ''New York Times'' article by Stephanie Rosenbloom describes ''Women Travelers: A Century of Trailblazing Adventures 1850-1950'' as "rich" with stories of women traveling on their own. Rosenbloom writes, "Some set off in corsets and crinolines, some in bloomers, others dressed like men. Ms. Lapierre categorized them, though not by their motherhood status," and quotes Lapierre: "What do they all share - across space and time - all these women with their very different personalities? One special talent, at the very least: to recognize their own instincts, to nurture their own desires. And not let anyone - nor any thing, any idea, any fear - lead them astray or starve their souls." ''

Kirkus Reviews ''Kirkus Reviews'' (or ''Kirkus Media'') is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus (1893–1980). The magazine is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fic ...

'' writes that ''The Woman of a Thousand Names'' is a "massive novel, based on the life of a real woman," and "represents a huge amount of research by Lapierre," and that "this account is engrossing, especially as to the particulars of existence in a paranoid, post-revolutionary state with a bureaucratic machine as deadly as it is dysfunctional." A ''Publishers Weekly'' review states, "Lapierre evokes Moura’s appeal by moving between the impressions she makes on others, including Gorky and H.G. Wells, and her own deep feelings, meshing history with a captivating tale of a passionate heart."

Honors and awards

* 1994 Elle Magazine Literary Grand Prize in France * 2005 Chevalier in the

Ordre des Arts et des Lettres The ''Ordre des Arts et des Lettres'' (Order of Arts and Letters) is an order of France established on 2 May 1957 by the Minister of Culture. Its supplementary status to the was confirmed by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963. Its purpose is ...

* 2016 Madame Figaro's Grand Prix de l'Héroïne

Selected bibliography

* ''La Lionne du Boulevard'' (1984) * ''Fanny Stevenson: A Romance of Destiny'' (1995) * ''Artemisia'' (2000) * ''Women Travelers: A Century of Trailblazing Adventures 1850-1950'' (2007), co-authored with Christel Mouchard * ''Between Love and Honor'' (2012) * ''The Woman of a Thousand Names'' (2020)

References

External links