Hector-Henri Malot (Hector Malot) (20 May 1830 – 18 July 1907) was a French writer born in La Bouille,

Seine-Maritime Seine-Maritime () is a department of France in the Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the northern coast of France, at the mouth of the Seine, and includes the cities of Rouen and Le Havre. Until 1955 it was named Seine-Infér ...

. He studied law in

Rouen Rouen (, ; or ) is a city on the River Seine in northern France. It is the prefecture of the region of Normandy and the department of Seine-Maritime. Formerly one of the largest and most prosperous cities of medieval Europe, the population ...

and

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...

, but eventually literature became his passion. He worked as a dramatic critic for ''Lloyd Francais'' and as a literary critic for ''L'Opinion Nationale''. His first book, published in 1859, was ''Les Amants''. In total Malot wrote over 70 books. By far his most famous book is '' Sans Famille'' (''Nobody's Boy'', 1878), which deals with the travels of the young orphan Remi, who is sold to the street musician Vitalis at age 8. ''Sans Famille'' gained fame as a children's book, though it was not originally intended as such. He announced his retirement as an author of fiction in 1895, but in 1896 he returned with the novel ''L'amour Dominateur'' as well as the account of his literary life ''Le Roman de mes Romans'' (''The Novel of my Novels''). He died in Fontenay-sous-Bois in 1907.

Works by Malot

* Victimes d'Amour (a trilogy) ** Les Amants (1859) *

Legacy

Three anime series have been made based on Malot's works: * Nobody's Boy: Remi (1977, 51 episodes, based on Sans Famille) * The Story of Perrine (1978, 53 episodes, based on En Famille) *

Remi, Nobody's Girl is a 26-episode Japanese animated television series by Nippon Animation, broadcast from 1996 to 1997 in Japan on the Fuji Television network as an installment to Nippon Animation's famed '' World Masterpiece Theater'' series. The show was di ...

(1996, 26 episodes, based on Sans Famille with gender swap)

External links

* * * 1830 births 1907 deaths 19th-century French novelists People from Seine-Maritime {{France-novelist-19thC-stub