All three parts of the delightful Fleurville Trilogy in one book.
In Sophie's Misfortunes, Sophie is a naughty little girl who delights in disobeying her mother and engaging in mischievous pranks. Why can't she be as well behaved as her cousin Paul and her two sensible friends, Camille and Madeleine?
In Camille and Madeleine, Camille and Madeleine are perfect little girls, beautifully behaved and wise beyond their years living with their mother at Chateau Fleurville. Another little girl, Margeurite, and her widowed mother come to stay and Sophie, now orphaned, is 'adopted' into the family. Soon all four girls become firm friends. Through their adventures all four learn steadfast loyalty and how to take responsibility for their actions.
In The Holidays, Camille, Madeleine, Marguerite and Sophie are waiting excitedly for their cousins to arrive for the summer holidays. The children fill their days building cabins, having picnics and playing games. Sophie is involved in another misadventure when she hides in a hollowed out tree trunk and cannot climb out! The highlight of the holidays is the unexpected return of Sophie's mother and cousin Paul. They had escaped the shipwreck in which they were thought to have drowned and had made their way to a foreign land. The children are enthralled by the Crusoe-like tales of survival and adventure.
Sophie, Countess of Ségur (née Countess Софья Фёдоровна Ростопчина; Saint Petersburg, 1 August 1799 - Paris, 9 February 1874) was a French writer of Russian birth.
She is best known today for her novel Les Malheurs de Sophie ("Sophie's Misfortunes"). The action takes place in a castle in the French countryside during the Second French Empire, where Sophie lives with her parents Mr and Mrs de Réan. Curious and adventurous, she does one silly thing after another, with the critical help of her cousin Paul, who is good and tries to show her the right path. She has two friends, Camille and Madeleine de Fleurville, 'good little girls' whom she tries hard to imitate. But she will learn that life is not a bed of roses ... Therese Martin (1873-1897), known as St. Therese of Lisieux, was an avid reader as a child of the novels of the Countess of Segur.
The novels of the Countess of Ségur were published from 1857 to 1872 in the "Bibliothèque rose illustrée" by the publishing house Hachette. They were collected together in 1990 under the title Œuvres de la comtesse de Ségur in the collection "Bouquins" (publisher: Robert Laffont).
Un bon petit diable Les Malheurs de Sophie Diloy le chemineau Mémoires d'un âne Jean qui grogne et Jean qui rit Le Mauvais Génie François le bossu Les Caprices de Gizelle Pauvre Blaise La Fortune de Gaspard Quel amour d'enfant ! Les Petites Filles modèles La sœur de Gribouille Blondine Après la pluie, le beau temps