Louise-Florence-Pétronille Tardieu d'Esclavelles married her cousin Denis-Joseph de la Live d'Epinay, marquis d'Epinay, at age 19. The marriage was unhappy, and Madame d'Epinay began to spend her time with literary figures such as Rousseau, Diderot, and Baron von Grimm, establishing a brilliant salon at her home at the Château of La Chevrette in the valley of Montmorency, a few miles north of Paris. She was a guest of Voltaire's in Switzerland during 1757 to 1759.
Her best known works are her autobiographical writings and her correspondence.
