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General Dourakine #1
The Angel Inn
English, French (translation)
231 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1863
About the author
Comtesse de Ségur
409 books245 followersSophie, Countess of Ségur (née Countess Софья Фёдоровна Ростопчина; Saint Petersburg, 1 August 1799 - Paris, 9 February 1874) was a French writer of Russian birth.
She is best known today for her novel Les Malheurs de Sophie ("Sophie's Misfortunes"). The action takes place in a castle in the French countryside during the Second French Empire, where Sophie lives with her parents Mr and Mrs de Réan. Curious and adventurous, she does one silly thing after another, with the critical help of her cousin Paul, who is good and tries to show her the right path. She has two friends, Camille and Madeleine de Fleurville, 'good little girls' whom she tries hard to imitate. But she will learn that life is not a bed of roses ... Therese Martin (1873-1897), known as St. Therese of Lisieux, was an avid reader as a child of the novels of the Countess of Segur.
The novels of the Countess of Ségur were published from 1857 to 1872 in the "Bibliothèque rose illustrée" by the publishing house Hachette. They were collected together in 1990 under the title Œuvres de la comtesse de Ségur in the collection "Bouquins" (publisher: Robert Laffont).
Un bon petit diable
Les Malheurs de Sophie
Diloy le chemineau
Mémoires d'un âne
Jean qui grogne et Jean qui rit
Le Mauvais Génie
François le bossu
Les Caprices de Gizelle
Pauvre Blaise
La Fortune de Gaspard
Quel amour d'enfant !
Les Petites Filles modèles
La sœur de Gribouille
Blondine
Après la pluie, le beau temps
She is best known today for her novel Les Malheurs de Sophie ("Sophie's Misfortunes"). The action takes place in a castle in the French countryside during the Second French Empire, where Sophie lives with her parents Mr and Mrs de Réan. Curious and adventurous, she does one silly thing after another, with the critical help of her cousin Paul, who is good and tries to show her the right path. She has two friends, Camille and Madeleine de Fleurville, 'good little girls' whom she tries hard to imitate. But she will learn that life is not a bed of roses ... Therese Martin (1873-1897), known as St. Therese of Lisieux, was an avid reader as a child of the novels of the Countess of Segur.
The novels of the Countess of Ségur were published from 1857 to 1872 in the "Bibliothèque rose illustrée" by the publishing house Hachette. They were collected together in 1990 under the title Œuvres de la comtesse de Ségur in the collection "Bouquins" (publisher: Robert Laffont).
Un bon petit diable
Les Malheurs de Sophie
Diloy le chemineau
Mémoires d'un âne
Jean qui grogne et Jean qui rit
Le Mauvais Génie
François le bossu
Les Caprices de Gizelle
Pauvre Blaise
La Fortune de Gaspard
Quel amour d'enfant !
Les Petites Filles modèles
La sœur de Gribouille
Blondine
Après la pluie, le beau temps
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews
June 16, 2023
Pleasant story about two lost children who find a new home and family.
September 21, 2013
I picked this book up at my library's annual book sale. I have enjoyed other books by Joan Aiken, and I liked the idea of a translation of a beloved French book that I had never heard of. Now having read it, I found the book delightful, and will look for other English translations of the Comtesse's other works. It's a simple, kind book, which in tone and content reminded me a little of the Mitford Series by Jan Karon. Yes, I knew where it was headed quite a bit in advance but enjoyed getting there all the same. I will definitely reread this book.
April 19, 2015
If you like to eat marshmallows because of How soft and sweet it is, this story is for you!
September 3, 2017
Needed wolves. Lots of wolves.
May 10, 2020
Ce fut un agréable voyage dans mes souvenirs d'enfance tout de même.
November 23, 2012
A fabulous, rollicking adventure story, that I remember vividly from my childhood(when I read it in its original French). It's been translated superlatively well by Stephanie Smee, whose previous translations of classic Countess de Segur books(the Fleurville Trilogy and Monsieur Cadichon) have captured a whole new generation of young readers.
October 2, 2015
Probably it was the first existing book in my life from a collection my father had at home since we - my brother and sister - were kids. I remember starting to read when I was a child but did not come to the end. I prefer to playoutside at that time - something like 35 years ago. Now I take the chance to read it in just one afternoon. Thank you dad for having all those books around us.
October 13, 2015
This story was beautiful and heart warming. It made me melt a bit because it so touching and soft and sweet. I loved this book so much as it was like nothing I've ever read and was wondrously pretty to read!
May 18, 2016
bien que je l'ai déjà lu enfant, je ne me souvenais pas tellement de l'histoire un peu trop plate et mielleuse à mon gout mais qui plairait surement à des petites filles rêvant de mariage et de contes de fées...
December 13, 2012
A charming Story
March 7, 2015
Sweet.
May 22, 2016
Un plaisir de relire une histoire de la comtesse de Ségur :)
December 22, 2016
Niais, mièvreux et didactique comme il le faut pour un bon petit livre de morale du 19ième siécle. Je me suis beaucoup amusé du personnage du général russe Crésus ex Pochina.
April 15, 2021
J’ai commencé ma journée de ce jeudi 15 avril par la relecture de L’auberge de l’Ange Gardien, qui a toujours été l’un de mes Comtesse de Ségur préférés. Alliant action, drame, comédie et émotion, il introduit surtout l’inoubliable général Dourakine, une figure haute en couleur, aussi colérique que bienveillante, qui vole la vedette à chacune de ses apparitions, et se révèle être un bienfaiteur extrêmement généreux pour les personnages principaux dont il arrange les vies telle une bonne fée aux ressources inépuisables.
Ces classiques de ma jeunesse sont vraiment réconfortants et ont le don de panser les plaies grâce aux messages positifs et encouragements qu’ils distillent. Avec L’auberge de l’Ange Gardien, on se surprend à croire à nouveau que la vie nous apporte tôt ou tard ce dont on a besoin, même si ce n’est pas toujours de la manière dont on l’attend : des enfants abandonnés à un triste sort retrouvent un foyer, une veuve se trouve comblée tant dans sa vie de femme que dans sa vie familiale, des hommes trouvent des épouses et des affaires prospèrent, tout ça sous l’oeil malicieux et avisé d’un général dont le plus grand bonheur est de combler ceux qu’il aime. Une histoire qui fait du bien.
Ces classiques de ma jeunesse sont vraiment réconfortants et ont le don de panser les plaies grâce aux messages positifs et encouragements qu’ils distillent. Avec L’auberge de l’Ange Gardien, on se surprend à croire à nouveau que la vie nous apporte tôt ou tard ce dont on a besoin, même si ce n’est pas toujours de la manière dont on l’attend : des enfants abandonnés à un triste sort retrouvent un foyer, une veuve se trouve comblée tant dans sa vie de femme que dans sa vie familiale, des hommes trouvent des épouses et des affaires prospèrent, tout ça sous l’oeil malicieux et avisé d’un général dont le plus grand bonheur est de combler ceux qu’il aime. Une histoire qui fait du bien.
June 28, 2019
J'avais oublié l'hypocrisie aristocratique de la comtesse de Ségur! Et a quel point c'est violent : un enfant se fait fouetter, mais ce n'est pas grave, il le méritait un peu et celui qui l'a battu c'était juste un peu emporté... O_o
Ça enlève un peu au plaisir du livre, mais c'est quand même une bonne histoire.
Ça enlève un peu au plaisir du livre, mais c'est quand même une bonne histoire.
October 21, 2021
I read this this summer after almost ten years. It took me right back to my childhood and to when me and my father would sit and read on weekend afternoons. A beautiful story, from a beautiful memory 💕
March 11, 2022
Très émouvant!
October 4, 2022
My childhood favourite book.
October 31, 2022
L'un de mes livres préférés lorsque j'étais enfant.
August 28, 2023
Muito giro e tem uma estoria muito bonita com dois rapazes sojinhos que acabam muito felizes
March 10, 2024
Para crianças entre os 9 e os 12 anos, bastante bom.
A personagem do Torchonnet, em contraste com Jacques e Paul, ilustra a importância da educação.
A personagem do Torchonnet, em contraste com Jacques e Paul, ilustra a importância da educação.
September 5, 2024
Ca c'était bieng 🕺
December 10, 2025
عنوان ترجمهٔ فارسی: فرشتهٔ نگهبان
April 30, 2026
I greatly disliked the general. He was quick to anger, easily offended, acted rashly, spent money without thinking, constantly wanted to control other people, and nearly killed a boy.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 29, 2026
2.5🌟
{ Second read }
« Il faisait froid, il faisait sombre ; la pluie tombait fine et serrée ; deux enfants dormaient au bord d'une grande route, sous un vieux chêne touffu : un petit garcon de trois ans était étendu sur un amas de feuilles ; un autre petit garçon, de six ans, couché à ses pieds, les lui réchauffait de son corps ; le petit avait des vêtements de laine, communs mais chauds ; ses épaules et sa poitrine étaient couvertes de la veste du garçon de six ans, qui grelottait en dormant ; de temps en temps un frisson faisait trembler son corps : il n'avait pour tout vêtement qu'une chemise et un pantalon à moitié usés ; sa figure exprimait la souffrance, des larmes à demi séchées se voyaient encore sur ses petites joues amaigries. »
I love incipits. I love dissecting incipits. What caught my eye here is the careful rhythm of the ponctuation: breath in, breath out, and here you are shivering with the children, gasping freezing air. Soon though, Moutier will arrive to save them and take them to L'Ange-Gardien where they'll live an almost paradisiac life, maybe too paradisiac that it would become quite pedantic and prosperous with the arrival of the extremely wealthy Général Dourakine. It is true that Comtesse de Ségur wants to show that everybody's kindness will be rewarded by generosity and abundance, but this abundance overabounds so much with the overflowing riches of the Général's "infinite bank account" that everything seems too easy and occasionally frivolous. I do appreciate this circulation, or dare I say contamination of salvation that is bound around the inn: Moutier rescues the children from cold and famine by taking them to Mme Blidot and Elfy who rescue them by giving them shelter; then at his return from the war, he and the children rescue Torchonnet from being mistreated, and the Général from being robbed and killed, and who will consequently give and give like a thunderous waterfall.
Thus, does this make L'Auberge de l'Ange-Gardien the authoress's most spiritual book? The inn holds too much of a symbolical value, already from the title, to not be that way: we are in Paradise — and the non-existence of Loumigny on France's map adds more proof — the idea of the Guardian or the Saviour, the familiar Comtesse topos of the good child, being Jacques, as an inverted reflection of the bad child, being Torchonnet — both being homeless and orphaned — and the latter being sent to a convent away, as if banished from Paradise for stealing and disobeying God, which is Dourakine, nonetheless contrastingly Satan, a charlatan-saviour who rubs his hands, tricks and laughs, goes into fluctuating funny fits of anger, all while caring and giving away his fortune for the purpose of good — even more so shooting it up like some broken ATM. That is why the sequel, his eponymous novel, excites me way more than this first volume since we'll see him in all his schizophrenic glory.
{ Second read }
« Il faisait froid, il faisait sombre ; la pluie tombait fine et serrée ; deux enfants dormaient au bord d'une grande route, sous un vieux chêne touffu : un petit garcon de trois ans était étendu sur un amas de feuilles ; un autre petit garçon, de six ans, couché à ses pieds, les lui réchauffait de son corps ; le petit avait des vêtements de laine, communs mais chauds ; ses épaules et sa poitrine étaient couvertes de la veste du garçon de six ans, qui grelottait en dormant ; de temps en temps un frisson faisait trembler son corps : il n'avait pour tout vêtement qu'une chemise et un pantalon à moitié usés ; sa figure exprimait la souffrance, des larmes à demi séchées se voyaient encore sur ses petites joues amaigries. »
I love incipits. I love dissecting incipits. What caught my eye here is the careful rhythm of the ponctuation: breath in, breath out, and here you are shivering with the children, gasping freezing air. Soon though, Moutier will arrive to save them and take them to L'Ange-Gardien where they'll live an almost paradisiac life, maybe too paradisiac that it would become quite pedantic and prosperous with the arrival of the extremely wealthy Général Dourakine. It is true that Comtesse de Ségur wants to show that everybody's kindness will be rewarded by generosity and abundance, but this abundance overabounds so much with the overflowing riches of the Général's "infinite bank account" that everything seems too easy and occasionally frivolous. I do appreciate this circulation, or dare I say contamination of salvation that is bound around the inn: Moutier rescues the children from cold and famine by taking them to Mme Blidot and Elfy who rescue them by giving them shelter; then at his return from the war, he and the children rescue Torchonnet from being mistreated, and the Général from being robbed and killed, and who will consequently give and give like a thunderous waterfall.
Thus, does this make L'Auberge de l'Ange-Gardien the authoress's most spiritual book? The inn holds too much of a symbolical value, already from the title, to not be that way: we are in Paradise — and the non-existence of Loumigny on France's map adds more proof — the idea of the Guardian or the Saviour, the familiar Comtesse topos of the good child, being Jacques, as an inverted reflection of the bad child, being Torchonnet — both being homeless and orphaned — and the latter being sent to a convent away, as if banished from Paradise for stealing and disobeying God, which is Dourakine, nonetheless contrastingly Satan, a charlatan-saviour who rubs his hands, tricks and laughs, goes into fluctuating funny fits of anger, all while caring and giving away his fortune for the purpose of good — even more so shooting it up like some broken ATM. That is why the sequel, his eponymous novel, excites me way more than this first volume since we'll see him in all his schizophrenic glory.
December 12, 2023
Este livro marcou-me muito. Penso que o recebi num Natal, em miúda, e fiquei viciada na capa. Já o li diversas vezes ao longo destes anos, e descubro sempre valores novos, que não tinha reparado antes. E não é apenas uma história para crianças. Em qualquer idade, este livro tem a capacidade de nos emocionar. As aventuras, crescimento e graça desta trama, levam-nos a um mundo de perseverança, positivismo e amor como não há muitas capazes hoje em dia. E leva-nos a acreditar que ainda há finais felizes!
August 15, 2019
La Comtesse de Ségur nous livre ici une magnifique histoire remplie de bons sentiments.
Deux orphelins sont retrouvés par un soldat qui va tout mettre en oeuvre pour leur donner un vrai foyer.
Une énième lecture qui me replonge dans celle de mon enfance.
Deux orphelins sont retrouvés par un soldat qui va tout mettre en oeuvre pour leur donner un vrai foyer.
Une énième lecture qui me replonge dans celle de mon enfance.
May 29, 2022
J'ai adoré ! Même si ce livre ne date pas d'y hier il est incroyable avec ça dose de suspense, de romance,… c’est un équilibre parfait entre tout cela et les personnages sont vraiment touchants.
December 30, 2024
3.5 Really loved this book and the little twist in the middle.
Comtesse de Ségur is such great books to read.
Comtesse de Ségur is such great books to read.
February 26, 2019
Such a light and amusing story, took me back in years, I found myself reading it with a spirit of a little child.
Although the story was mostly optimistic with a hinges of a sad past, but the writing was great, detailed at parts to establish importance and short and to the point in other parts to give the attention a rest.
Wonderful.
Although the story was mostly optimistic with a hinges of a sad past, but the writing was great, detailed at parts to establish importance and short and to the point in other parts to give the attention a rest.
Wonderful.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews