Ségur Sophie, comtesse de
Ségur Sophie, comtesse de (1799–1874),French writer of children's books. The daughter of Count Rostopchine who served as minister during the reign of Tsar Paul I and as governor of the City of Moscow in 1812, she spent her childhood in Moscow and on the vast family estate in Voronono. In 1817 her father fell into disgrace, and the family went into exile to France. Two years later she married Count Eugène de Ségur, who soon preferred the glamour of Paris, while Sophie spent most of her time at Les Nouettes, the country estate in Normandy that would be the setting for most of the stories she wrote. Neglected by her husband, Ségur devoted herself entirely to the education of the couple's eight children. The countess was 58 years old when she launched her literary career. First, she wrote two fairy tales, ‘Histoire de Blondine’ and ‘Le bon petit Henri’, which were originally published in La Semaine des Enfants, a weekly...
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