Flora Groult (1924–2001)

Flora Groult was born in Paris, France, a daughter of André Groult, an interior designer who became famous during the Art Déco period, and his wife Nicole Poiret, an acclaimed couturier and sister of Paul Poiret. Theirs was a fashionable and artistic household. Flora attended the Lycée Victor Duruy and later studied at art schools, including the Académie Julian. She was just 15, and her older sister Benoîte was 19, when World War II and the Nazi Occupation of France began. They both kept diaries throughout the war; the diaries were first published in 1962, under the title Journal à quatre mains, and was a bestseller. After the war, Flora worked as a journalist for various art publications such as Connaissance des arts and Elle magazine. Following the success of Journal à quatre mains, she and Benoîte co-wrote two highly successful novels, Le Féminin Pluriel (1965) and Il était deux fois (1968). Flora independently wrote Maxime ou la Déchirure (1972), Le Passé Infini (1984), and other books, as well as the French television series Ah! Vous écrivez? She was married twice, and had three children with her first husband, Michael Pringle; after his death, she re-married to British diplomat Sir Bernard Ledwidge, who served as ambassador to Israel and Finland. In 1994, the two Groult sisters' diaries were republished, once again to great acclaim.