About the book: 2001 / "Cutting life into pieces: childhood - the first book, marriage - the second, great extramarital passion - the third, a child's illness - the fourth, this is for me not interesting. I prefer to tell stories that take me far from here,” said Françoise Chandernagore after her third book about 17th-century France. But five years later she will write a novel about herself, about her divorce, about her lost love, about her return to life. The novel “The First Wife” brought the graduate of the Higher School of National Administration, a member of the State Council of France, the fame of one of the country’s leading writers.