French author sued for libel by her relatives over Nazi ‘collaborator’ family novel |
PARIS, France (AFP) — A historian of the Nazi occupation of France was being sued Wednesday by her own relatives for alleged libel after she promoted her first novel as inspired by her family’s history.
Cecile Desprairies, 68, says her debut novel, “The Propagandist” — published in English last year — is inspired by her own childhood, but family members have accused her of lying and want the title removed from bookstores.
“It’s a fact: I grew up in a collaborationist family. They all were — to varying degrees,” Desprairies said after the book came out in French in 2023.
She was not present in court on Wednesday, but a lawyer represented her.
In the novel, the narrator’s family all have different names to those of the author’s real-life relatives, but the plaintiffs — the author’s brother and another relative — say they are clearly identifiable.
In a legal complaint against Desprairies and her publisher seen by AFP, they accuse her of libel against her mother and her great-uncle, a half-brother of her grandmother.
Both deny the charges.
The narrator’s mother — who is described as a........