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

La Bouille La Bouille () is a commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region in north-western France. Geography A small village (in area) surrounded by woodland situated south of a meander of the river Seine, some southwest of Rouen, at ...

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-Inféri ...

. He studied law in

Rouen Rouen (, ; or ) is a city on the River Seine in northern France. It is the prefecture of the Regions of France, region of Normandy (administrative region), Normandy and the Departments of France, department of Seine-Maritime. Formerly one of ...

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. S ...

, 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 Fontenay-sous-Bois () is a commune in the eastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris. Name The name Fontenay was recorded in the Middle Ages as ''Fontanetum'', meaning "the springs", from Medieval Latin ''fonta ...

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 is a Japanese anime series by Nippon Animation. It is the fourth production in the ''World Masterpiece Theater'' series (''Calpis Family Theater'' back then). It is based on the French novel '' En Famille'' by Hector Malot. The original aired ...

(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 direc ...

(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