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Lady L.
Ende des 19. Jahrhunderts wächst Annette in Paris in der berüchtigten Rue de Lappe auf. Nichts deutet darauf hin, dass sie es je aus ihrem Milieu herausschaffen wird, doch eine überaus glückliche Verkettung überaus glücklicher Zufälle katapultieren sie aus der französischen Gosse in die feinsten Kreise der englischen Aristokratie. Dass diesem »gesellschaftlichen Aufstieg« aus recht durchsichtigen Motiven intensiv nachgeholfen wurde, verbirgt sie ebenso geschickt wie ihre leidenschaftliche Liebe zu einem gut gebauten Anarchisten.
Ihr Gefährte Sir Percy Rodiner hält diese Geschichte zunächst für erfunden, doch Lady L. erzählt mit viel Liebe zum Detail.
Das literarische Chamäleon Romain Gary schreibt dieses ironische Lustspiel über eine Hochstaplerin des beginnenden 20. Jahrhunderts mit unverkennbarem Genuss. Eine schwungvolle Räuberpistole über Idealismus, Eitelkeiten, Luxus, Liebe und Egoismus.
»Lady L.« wurde 1965 von Peter Ustinov mit Sophia Loren und Paul Newman in den Hauptrollen verfilmt.
Ihr Gefährte Sir Percy Rodiner hält diese Geschichte zunächst für erfunden, doch Lady L. erzählt mit viel Liebe zum Detail.
Das literarische Chamäleon Romain Gary schreibt dieses ironische Lustspiel über eine Hochstaplerin des beginnenden 20. Jahrhunderts mit unverkennbarem Genuss. Eine schwungvolle Räuberpistole über Idealismus, Eitelkeiten, Luxus, Liebe und Egoismus.
»Lady L.« wurde 1965 von Peter Ustinov mit Sophia Loren und Paul Newman in den Hauptrollen verfilmt.
176 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 19, 2026
About the author
Romain Gary
177 books1,980 followersRomain Gary was a Jewish-French novelist, film director, World War II aviator and diplomat. He also wrote under the pen name
Émile Ajar
.
Born Roman Kacew (Yiddish: קצב, Russian: Кацев), Romain Gary grew up in Vilnius to a family of Lithuanian Jews. He changed his name to Romain Gary when he escaped occupied France to fight with Great Britain against Germany in WWII. His father, Arieh-Leib Kacew, abandoned his family in 1925 and remarried. From this time Gary was raised by his mother, Nina Owczinski. When he was fourteen, he and his mother moved to Nice, France. In his books and interviews, he presented many different versions of his father's origin, parents, occupation and childhood.
He later studied law, first in Aix-en-Provence and then in Paris. He learned to pilot an aircraft in the French Air Force in Salon-de-Provence and in Avord Air Base, near Bourges. Following the Nazi occupation of France in World War II, he fled to England and under Charles de Gaulle served with the Free French Forces in Europe and North Africa. As a pilot, he took part in over 25 successful offensives logging over 65 hours of air time.
He was greatly decorated for his bravery in the war, receiving many medals and honors.
After the war, he worked in the French diplomatic service and in 1945 published his first novel. He would become one of France's most popular and prolific writers, authoring more than thirty novels, essays and memoirs, some of which he wrote under the pseudonym of Émile Ajar. He also wrote one novel under the pseudonym of Fosco Sinibaldi and another as Shatan Bogat.
In 1952, he became secretary of the French Delegation to the United Nations in New York, and later in London (in 1955).
In 1956, he became Consul General of France in Los Angeles.
He is the only person to win the Prix Goncourt twice. This prize for French language literature is awarded only once to an author. Gary, who had already received the prize in 1956 for Les racines du ciel , published La vie devant soi under the pseudonym of Émile Ajar in 1975. The Académie Goncourt awarded the prize to the author of this book without knowing his real identity. A period of literary intrigue followed. Gary's little cousin Paul Pavlowitch posed as the author for a time. Gary later revealed the truth in his posthumous book Vie et mort d'Émile Ajar .
Gary's first wife was the British writer, journalist, and Vogue editor Lesley Blanch (author of The Wilder Shores of Love ). They married in 1944 and divorced in 1961. From 1962 to 1970, Gary was married to the American actress Jean Seberg, with whom he had a son, Alexandre Diego Gary.
He also co-wrote the screenplay for the motion picture, The Longest Day and co-wrote and directed the 1971 film Kill! , starring his now ex-wife Seberg.
Suffering from depression after Seberg's 1979 suicide, Gary died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound on December 2, 1980 in Paris, France though he left a note which said specifically that his death had no relation with Seberg's suicide.
Born Roman Kacew (Yiddish: קצב, Russian: Кацев), Romain Gary grew up in Vilnius to a family of Lithuanian Jews. He changed his name to Romain Gary when he escaped occupied France to fight with Great Britain against Germany in WWII. His father, Arieh-Leib Kacew, abandoned his family in 1925 and remarried. From this time Gary was raised by his mother, Nina Owczinski. When he was fourteen, he and his mother moved to Nice, France. In his books and interviews, he presented many different versions of his father's origin, parents, occupation and childhood.
He later studied law, first in Aix-en-Provence and then in Paris. He learned to pilot an aircraft in the French Air Force in Salon-de-Provence and in Avord Air Base, near Bourges. Following the Nazi occupation of France in World War II, he fled to England and under Charles de Gaulle served with the Free French Forces in Europe and North Africa. As a pilot, he took part in over 25 successful offensives logging over 65 hours of air time.
He was greatly decorated for his bravery in the war, receiving many medals and honors.
After the war, he worked in the French diplomatic service and in 1945 published his first novel. He would become one of France's most popular and prolific writers, authoring more than thirty novels, essays and memoirs, some of which he wrote under the pseudonym of Émile Ajar. He also wrote one novel under the pseudonym of Fosco Sinibaldi and another as Shatan Bogat.
In 1952, he became secretary of the French Delegation to the United Nations in New York, and later in London (in 1955).
In 1956, he became Consul General of France in Los Angeles.
He is the only person to win the Prix Goncourt twice. This prize for French language literature is awarded only once to an author. Gary, who had already received the prize in 1956 for Les racines du ciel , published La vie devant soi under the pseudonym of Émile Ajar in 1975. The Académie Goncourt awarded the prize to the author of this book without knowing his real identity. A period of literary intrigue followed. Gary's little cousin Paul Pavlowitch posed as the author for a time. Gary later revealed the truth in his posthumous book Vie et mort d'Émile Ajar .
Gary's first wife was the British writer, journalist, and Vogue editor Lesley Blanch (author of The Wilder Shores of Love ). They married in 1944 and divorced in 1961. From 1962 to 1970, Gary was married to the American actress Jean Seberg, with whom he had a son, Alexandre Diego Gary.
He also co-wrote the screenplay for the motion picture, The Longest Day and co-wrote and directed the 1971 film Kill! , starring his now ex-wife Seberg.
Suffering from depression after Seberg's 1979 suicide, Gary died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound on December 2, 1980 in Paris, France though he left a note which said specifically that his death had no relation with Seberg's suicide.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
February 21, 2026
Anlässlich ihres 80. Geburtstags lässt Lady L. ihr Leben Revue passieren. Romain Gary lässt sie berichten: Nein, sie war bei weitem nicht immer eine Lady. Die Freude am Ausformulieren ihrer hochstaplerischen Eskapaden merkt man ihrem Autor deutlich an und wir erfahren schnell, ihr vermeintlich stets so privilegiertes Leben, weist hinter dem reellen Dasein allergrößte Diskrepanz auf. So wächst sie statt in höchsten Kreisen in Wahrheit vielmehr in einem Parisier-Slum-Bezirk auf. Sie verliebt sich in Armand, einem charismatischen, gut aussehenden Dichter, doch als sie schwanger von ihm wird, vertraut sie sich und ihr Kind einem älteren, reichen britischen Aristokraten an.
So läuft diese fast unglaubliche und recht unterhaltsame Geschichte weiter und wurde in den 60er Jahren auch verfilmt. Ich will hier nichts zuende erzählen, sondern fordere vielmehr zur eigenen Lektüre auf . Die Leser erwartet eine überaus fesselnde Story über Aristokratie, Schein, Geld und Liebe!
So läuft diese fast unglaubliche und recht unterhaltsame Geschichte weiter und wurde in den 60er Jahren auch verfilmt. Ich will hier nichts zuende erzählen, sondern fordere vielmehr zur eigenen Lektüre auf . Die Leser erwartet eine überaus fesselnde Story über Aristokratie, Schein, Geld und Liebe!
Displaying 1 of 1 review