Celina

In the late 1850s, Celina, aged fifteen, born into poverty, takes up work as a chambermaid for the Victor Hugo family living in exile in Guernsey. There she encounters the delicate balance between the professional and the personal, and the obligations placed upon her as her livelihood is at stake. Inspired by Hugo's cryptic diary notes and by letters from his wife, Catherine Axelrad restores to life the girl whose untimely death shook the Hugo family, capturing the changing time in which she lived as well as life in the Channel Islands. In doing so, Axelrad sheds light on the complexity of Hugo's private persona and cuts le grand homme down to size. Intimately involved with him, Celina remains at the margins of the poet's creative life; she recounts her relationship both with the artist who is writing his Miserables by day and with the man who joins her at night. First published by Editions Gallimard in 1997, this novella offers a singular perspective on matters of sexual consent and class dynamics: one which makes us take stock of social progress, but also wonder how far we have really come today.

About the Author :
Born in 1956, Catherine Axelrad lives and works in Paris. She started writing in the late 80s while working as a teacher. Apart from Celina, her published works include three autofiction novels (among which The Warszawianka, translated by Sacha Rabinovitch), a short biography of Moliere, a pastiche of Proust (Albertine travestie), and a series of three YA novellas under the pseudonym Alice Chambard. In 2011 she left teaching to study Protestant theology, and in 2014, she became a minister of the Eglise protestante unie de France.

Review :
'A quiet tale of a young servant in Victor Hugo's household; it pierced me to the heart.' - Marina Warner, TLS Books of the Year 2024 'Living in exile in the Channel Islands, the irrepressibly philandering author of Les Miserables went through what is called his "Chambermaid Period". In this moving short novel, Catherine Axelrad gives us the great man and his retinue, his house and his mania for Gothic decor, the island and the threatening sea, all through the eyes of a chambermaid-not a fantasy maid, but the real girl from Alderney whose death in 1861 saddened the whole Hugolian establishment. The poverty, ill-health and exploitation of working folk and especially of the young girls who are brought to life here deepen the understanding of what Hugo's great novel was really about. In this lively translation by Philip Terry, Axelrad's portrait of a normal yet unique Victorian household seen from "downstairs" is a true gem.' - David Bellos, author of The Novel of the Century. The Extraordinary Adventure of Les Miserables 'Seen through Celina's eyes, told with her curiosity, her wonder, her sharp observations, what we witness unfolding here is not so much Victor Hugo's life as that of the young narrator. We see the intelligence she brings to bear, playing her few cards just so in a time which may be the most patriarchal in our history: the nineteenth century. Catherine Axelrad describes a quiet young woman who nevertheless hears everything, sees everything, silently appraises her lovers, picks and chooses, and escapes submission in her own way. It's a joyful read.' - Colombe Schneck, author of The Paris Trilogy 'Pitch-perfect, and so light yet so profound. All of Axelrad's books have at their centre a silent, vulnerable young woman, but also one who is tough and resilient, totally unsentimental but deeply responsive and actually very intelligent. How such a person emerges out of such apparent silence is the wonder of her work. Celina is as quiet and devastating a novel as I have read in a long time. Unforgettable.' - Gabriel Josipovici, author of 100 Days "In this remarkable book Catherine Axelrad gives speech to a young woman born in poverty and almost lost to history. Celina is restored to life, emerging as lively, courageous, complex, witty, pragmatic, and joyful. There are moments of great tenderness and longing; despite her exploitation (for relations are often complicated, as Axelrad so subtly weaves), there is a real and delicate relation between her and her master, with whom she discovers the possibility of poetic language. Celina and Celina, woman and book, haunt me." - Sharon Kivland, author of Reading Nana: An Experimental Novel 'The extraordinary quality of Axelrad's writing is the silence that envelops it. There is a featherweight lightness to it all that is a supreme contrast to the heavy mournfulness one feels after reaching the final page. Celina is not a submissive character, and life's blows, including fears of impending death, glance off her, seemingly without leaving a mark. Nor is she subversive (unlike Celestine in Octave Mirbeau's The Diary of a Chambermaid, whose employer fetishises her boots and ends up dead with one of the boots stuffed in his mouth). She knows that her social standing limits her freedom and the options open to her, and that it's not, as one character says, 'a crime to sleep with a servant'. Nevertheless, within those limitations, she is able to exert her individuality and choose her own lovers, including one disastrous final relationship after she leaves Guernsey. At the end, I could almost believe that Axelrad's Celina could have had some influence on Hugo's creative life, perhaps as a prototype of Fantine, one of the most attractive characters in Les Miserables, forced to become a prostitute before she, too, dies from tuberculosis.' -- Mark Bostridge, Spectator 'Catherine Axelrad's exquisite novella Celina, first published in 1997 (now in a transporting English translation by Philip Terry) is a plain, matter-of-fact and consequently very moving diary of a chambermaid. It carries no salaciousness, but stands for itself [...] Axelrad's dispassionate depiction of sullied innocence and forced compromise is brutal and devastating.' - Catherine Taylor, Irish Times 'It would have been far too easy to convey Hugo as merely the predator, with Célina his hapless victim. But Axelrad avoids that binary telling in favour of something much more complex and compelling.(...)  What makes this dynamic all the more powerful and affecting, and Célina such a moving literary character, is the particularity of her voice. Through Terry’s excellent translation, Axelrad’s prose is light but never delicate. Célina’s life is undoubtedly tragic, but she herself is not; she is self-aware, assertive and seldom pessimistic, at times even one step ahead of her supposed betters.(...) But perhaps the most surprising thing about Célina is how long it has taken to reach these shores. Originally published in 1997, it was only translated into English in July. Here’s hoping this marks the start of some wider recognition for Axelrad’s oeuvre – and for the kind of forgotten voices she has brought to life.' - David McAllister, Daily Telegraph 'Célina is beautifully written by Catherine Axelrad who captures brilliantly the tone and voice of a young servant (…) Meticulously researched and inspired by Victor Hugo’s cryptic diary notes and letters from his wife, the narrative is peppered with details illuminating family life and the writing of Les Misérables.’ - Georgia de Chamberet, BookBlast 'What an unsettling of the statue of father Hugo! Refreshing.' - Elisabeth Lequeret, La vie 'A tender, melancholic tale where Catherine Axelrad has managed to avoid all pitfalls. Neither the story of the poor servant; nor that of the great discontent; nor that of the lascivious old man handing out two francs - scrupulously accounted for in his notebook - in return for special favours. No - only the true and touching voice of young Celina Henry, perfectly captured and wondrously restored, which the fine phrases overheard at Hauteville House have, if nothing else, helped liberate from those last sorry days.' - Mona Ozouf, L'Obs 'A Victor Hugo whom we do not know, for never had he been presented against this backdrop, nor indeed as part of the banal unfolding of daily life. A discovery, in fact, especially because he is not the book's main character. This is well and truly the story of Celina Henry, the maid, who discovers - and thereby enables us to discover - a man ultimately like so many others, with his ordinary share of qualities and flaws.' - Clement Borgal, La Republique du Centre