For 50 years, Colette was at the centre of Parisian social and cultural life. She won enormous celebrity and eminence as an author, and in her life and work she presented a liberating sensuality that changed the mores of the 20th century. She worked constantly, writing novels, stories, plays, film and radio scripts, and a seemingly endless stream of journalism. She was also an actress, artist, sensualist, bisexual, beautician, sensationalist, parent and femme ultime. This biography of Colette is by the author of "Albert Camus", "The Left Bank" and "Flaubert".