Anne Golon

Who is Anne Golon?

Anne Golon is a French author, better known to English-speaking readers as Sergeanne Golon. She has written a series of novels about a heroine Angelique.

Born Simone Changeux in Toulon, a port in south-eastern France, was the daughter of Pierre Changeux, a scientist and a captain in the French Navy. She was interested in painting and writing from early childhood and published her first novel, The Country from behind my Eyes, when she was 18 under the pen name Joëlle Danterne. During World War II she travelled via bicycle through France to Spain. She wrote using different pen-names, helped to create France Magazine, and was awarded a literary prize for The Patrol of the Saint Innocents.

She was sent to Africa as a journalist, where she met Vsevolod Sergeïvich Goloubinoff, her future husband, Serge Golon. They collaborated on Angélique, Marquise of the Angels, the first book in the series. The book was an overnight success. When originally published in France, the books were credited to Serge and Anne Golon, Anne being the author and husband Serge having done much of the historical research.