Henri Ardel

Berthe Marie Victorine Palmyre Abraham was born in Amiens on 6 June 1863. Her parents, Lucie Mathilde Pillier and Alphonse Abraham. She lived in Enghien, then Paris. His sister, Marie-Louise, born 10 May 1877, married Georges Le Cordier; a writer herself, she took the pseudonym "Colette Henri-Ardel" after Berthe's death. Bertha was a teacher in a class for young girls. She made her literary debut by sending a short story to Léon de Tinseau who encouraged her. One of the many female writers who took a male pseudonym, she was author of "sentimental novels for ladies" published by Plon, in the Stella collection or in the Nelson collection. These novels were very successful: During the last ten years of her life, Ardel was involved in a charity to help poor children and to catechize them. She died on 6 January 1938, and is buried in the Montreuil cemetery in Versailles.

• Près du bonheur, New York, W. R. Jenkins, collection "Contes choisis", no. 18, 1893, with English notes by Eugène Rigal (text, via Hathitrust) • Cœur de sceptique (1894), Prix Botta • L'Été de Guillemette, Plon, 1908 (text, via Internet Archive) • Colette Bryce au Maroc, Plon, 1937 • Les Vacances de la famille Bryce, Plon, 1928 • Le Feu sous la cendre, Nelson, 1928, illustrations by Georges Dutriac • Un conte bleu (1922) • L'Appel souverain (1923) • La nuit tombe (1928) • Le Feu sous la cendre (1928) • Seule, Nelson, 1929, illustrations by Georges Dutriac • La petite Moune followed by Le Masque (novel), A. Fayard et Cie, Collection "Jeunes femmes & jeunes filles" no. 17 (1930) • Le Mal d'aimer (1933) • La Faute d'autrui (1933) • L'Absence, Plon, 1933 • Ainsi souffla le vent (1934) • L'Heure décisive, Plon, 1901 (text, via Internet Archive) • Mon cousin Guy, Plon, 1896; English translation: Little Arlette or my cousin Guy by Francis Furey, Kilner, 1899 (text, via Internet Archive) • René Orlis • Rêve blanc, Plon, collection of La Liseuse no. 102, 1929 • Le Rêve de Suzy • Tout arrive (PDF text, via memoire.arald.org) • L'Autre Miracle • Il était une adroite princesse • Les Deux Visages de l'amour • Le Chemin qui descend (1916) • Il faut marier Jean (1925) • L'Étreinte du passé (1918) • Les Âmes closes • Ève et le Serpent, Plon, 1930