Anne Golon

Anne Golon (17 December 1921 – 14 July 2017) was a French author who wrote under the name Sergeanne Golon for English‑language readers; her Angélique novels have reportedly sold 150 million copies worldwide and have inspired several adaptations.

Born Simone Changeux on 17 December 1921 in Toulon, France, she was the daughter of Pierre Changeux, a scientist and French Navy captain. She showed an early interest in painting and writing and published her first novel, *The Country From Behind My Eyes*, at age 18 under the pen name Joëlle Danterne. During World War II she travelled by bicycle from France to Spain, wrote using various pseudonyms, helped create *France* magazine, and received a literary prize for *The Patrol of the Saint Innocents*.

Sent to Africa as a journalist, she met Vsevolod Sergeïvich Goloubinoff—known as Serge Golon—in 1947; they later married and co‑authored *Angélique: Marquise of the Angels* (1956), the first book in the Angélique series. The novel achieved immediate success, and when originally published in France both Anne and Serge were credited, with Anne as author and Serge providing historical research. British publishers later combined their names into “Sergeanne Golon” for English translations.

The Angélique novels’ popularity led to five feature films directed by Bernard Borderie in the 1960s, starring Michèle Mercier as Angélique and Robert Hossein as her husband Joffrey de Peyrac.

In 1972 Anne and Serge travelled to Canada to research a new Angélique volume; that year, while Anne was writing *Angélique and the Ghosts*, Serge died.

Anne continued writing while raising four children, producing four additional volumes between Serge’s death in 1972 and 1985, beginning with the second half of *Ghosts* (published in France as a single volume, *Angélique in Quebec*) and ending with *La Victoire d'Angélique*.

By the 1990s she faced near‑poverty and sued French publisher Hachette for copyright abuse and unpaid royalties; after nearly ten years of litigation, an agreement in 2006 made her the sole owner of the Angélique series.

Anne Golon died of peritonitis on 14 July 2017 in Versailles, France.