Janine Montupet, a much-celebrated French novelist, died Sunday morning, Nov. 18, 2012, at her Hailey, Idaho, home, of natural causes.
Janine Montupet was born Feb. 16, 1919, in Oran, French Algeria, of Provençal, Corsican, Italian and Irish ancestry. Her parents, Louise and Paul Poggi, moved to Paris when she was 15. Janine married the late aluminum foundry industrialist Jean Montupet in Paris in 1947, and shortly thereafter wrote her first novel, “The Red Fountain” about the French colonists in Algeria, the first in her successful series of historical novels set in Algeria and published by Robert Laffont.
Later, while living in Normandy, she was inspired to write “La Dentelliere d’Alençon” (“The Lacemaker”), a successful historical novel detailing the lives of the 17th- and 18th-century lacemakers of Alençon, who produced the finest lace to adorn European nobility.
Then Janine returned to her favorite subject, Algeria, and soon published “Couleurs de Paradis” (“Colors of Paradise”), a novel about the cohabitation of the French colonists and the Arabs in Algeria. Intrigued by the French perfume dynasties, she then penned a saga about the perfume families surrounding Grasse, Haute Provence, and another historical novel dealing with a family of great chefs, “Un Gout de Bonheur et de Miel Sauvage,” (A Taste of Happiness and Wild Honey”) and yet another novel on France’s women’s shoe industry, “Bal au Palais Darelli” (“The Ball at the Palace of Darelli”). Passionate about writing and storytelling, Janine finished a total of 20 novels, published by Robert Laffont, Albin Michel and Flammarion, publishing houses in Paris.
Continuously writing, she followed her children to the United States 30 years ago, to spend more time with her growing family. Janine is survived by her son, Jean-Paul Montupet, and his wife, Isabelle Montupet; their children, James Colin Montupet and Pauline and Peter Thomas Shanley; as well as her daughter, Martine Montupet Drackett and Martine’s husband, Dan Drackett, and their children, Clementine Drackett Philbrick (and Hunter Philbrick) and Aurelia Isabelle Drackett.
A private family memorial will be held when Janine’s family convenes in Sun Valley for the Christmas holidays. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to Hospice and Palliative Care of the Wood River Valley, Box 4320, 501 First Ave. N. Ketchum, ID 83340-4320 USA, 208-726-8464 or www.hpcwrv.org, hospice@wwrv.svcoxmail.com. Please visit HYPERLINK "http://www.woodriverchapel.com" www.woodriverchapel.com to leave a condolence, share a photo or light a candle.
For more information: martine@drackettsv.com, 208-578-9200.
