Sophie's Misfortunes (French: Les Malheurs de Sophie) is a children's book written by the Countess of Ségur. The book was published in 1858 by the publisher Hachette. The illustrations were by Horace Castelli, a French artist. This is the first book of a trilogy; its sequels are Good Little Girls (1858) and The Holidays (1859).
Contents
Plot
The story is set in a castle in the French countryside, during the Second French Empire. Sophie is a mischievous girl who lives with her parents, Monsieur and Madame de Réan.
Summary
Sophie de Réan is a wealthy French girl who lives with her affectionate but firm parents at the Château de Réan. Intelligent, imaginative and impulsive, she is constantly seized by "ideas", which invariably lead to disaster. Although sincerely affectionate and usually remorseful afterwards, she repeatedly ignores the advice of her mother, Madame de Réan, and learns through a succession of painful experiences.
The novel consists of a series of largely independent episodes illustrating Sophie's curiosity, selfishness and lack of foresight. Her experiments include ruining a wax doll through increasingly elaborate attempts to improve it, destroying her mother's pet fish, mistreating insects and other animals, cutting off her eyebrows, stealing food, inventing implausible lies, and repeatedly causing the deaths of pets through thoughtlessness. Her frequent companion is her cousin Paul d'Auber, whose honesty and courage provide a moral contrast to Sophie's impulsiveness.
Although Sophie gradually becomes more truthful and compassionate, her progress is inconsistent, and many faults recur despite earlier resolutions. Madame de Réan consistently combines affection with firm discipline, while Paul's friendship and good example encourage Sophie's better instincts.
The book concludes with Sophie's family sailing with Paul's family to America to settle the estate of the wealthy Monsieur Fichini, whose death has left a substantial inheritance. This voyage sets up the sequel, Good Little Girls. Set some years later, Sophie has lost her original family and is in the "care" of her cruel stepmother, Madame Fichini.
Legacy
The success of Sophie's Misfortunes has been constant through the years and still goes on today; the book has been republished many times. Overseas, as well, it has been very successful. Vladimir Nabokov alluded to it in his novel Ada (1969), making up a novel called Sophie's Sophisms [Les Sophismes de Sophie] by a so-called "Miss Stopchin", as well Les Malheurs de Swann, a title which combines Countess of Ségur and Marcel Proust. In the United Kingdom, the book was used as reference material to teach young girls French translation (boys would be trained using L'Histoire d'un conscrit de 1813, written by Erckmann-Chatrian).
Main characters
Sophie de Réan
Monsieur and Madame de Réan, Sophie's parents
Paul d'Auber, Sophie's cousin
Camille and Madeleine de Fleurville, Sophie's friends
Adaptations
Cinema and television
The book has inspired numerous film and television adaptations, including:
Sophie's Misfortunes (1946), by Jacqueline Audry.
Sophie's Misfortunes (1979), by Jean-Claude Brialy.
Sophie's Misfortunes (2016), by Christophe Honoré.
Music
In 1935, French composer Jean Françaix wrote a ballet called Les Malheurs de Sophie (32 minutes, published by Schott).
Les Bonheurs de Sophie, piano sheet music by Chantal Auber, La Pléiade, Préparatoire 1.
"Les Malheurs de Sophie", sung by Chantal Goya, a song from the movie made by Jean-Claude Brialy.
Les Malheurs de Sophie (2011), a musical by Virginie Aguzzoli.
Animation
Les Malheurs de Sophie (1998) is the only animated adaptation of Sophie's Misfortune and has enjoyed a cult success in the French-speaking world.
Created by Bernard Deyriès with voices by
Julie Legout : Sophie de Réan
Barbara Tissier : Adult Sophie de Réan adulte (episode 26)
Gwenaël Sommier : Paul d'Aubert (episodes 1 to 8)
Mathieu Laurent : Paul d'Aubert (episodes 21 to 26)
Alexandre Gillet : Adult Paul d'Aubert (episode 26)
Mélanie Laurent : Camille de Fleurville
Malvina Germain : Adult Madeleine de Fleurville (episode 26) / Élisa
Kelly Marot : Marguerite de Rosbourg
Valérie Siclay : Adult Marguerite de Rosbourg (episode 26) / Lucie / Madame Chéneau
Sylvie Feit : Léon de Rugès / Mina
Donald Reignoux : Jean de Rugès
Tony Marot : Adult Jean de Rugès (episode 26)
Céline Monsarrat : Madame de Réan
Daniel Gall : Monsieur Henry Louis Hubert de Réan / Lambert / André / Nicaise / Doctor Forestier (episode 20) / Lawyer of Madame de Fleurville (episode 25)
Monique Thierry : Madame Fedora Marie Alexandrine Fichini
Notes and references
Ségur, S. (1889). Sophie's Troubles (English Translation). New York: P. J. Kenedy & Sons. (Internet Archive digital edition).
Les Nouveaux Malheurs de Sophie, a novel by Valérie Dayre
Les Malheurs de Sophie, audio version (in French)
.