empire céleste

The novel is centered on Helene's affair with Jean Delphaux, employed for local theatrical production of La Reine Berthe, with her intense sexual encounters taking place in the rented red rooms.

In 1958, Julliard published L'Empire Celeste, for which Mali Joris that year won the Prix Féminin.

The novel is set in the house of that name in the Rue d'Odessa in Paris, where the co-owners of the property meet every Monday evening for a literary reunion organized by Stéphane Morani, the pianist in the band that plays in the local café, the Brasserie Dorée.

Stéphane is married to Louise, a co-owner of the Empire Celeste, who is having an affair with Henry, a successful painter.

Martine, a Dowdy department store assistant who rents a small attic room in the Empire Celeste, is infatuated with Stéphane.

In a moment of weakness, having rejected her advances, he lends her his personal diary, which he uses to undermine his position with Louise and the residents of the Empire Celeste.

Confronted by the co-owners at a literary evening with Louise's infidelity, exposed by Martine, Stéphane agrees to leave Louise and the Empire less the less.

The novel ends with Stéphane admitted to a sanatorium, forgotten by the residents, in favor of the new co-owner's literary evening.