La Dame de cœur

Maria Le Hardouin (1912–1967), born Sabine d'Outhoorn in Geneva, was a Swiss French-speaking writer and woman of letters known for her novels and biographies. She achieved major literary success with the Prix Femina in 1949 for her novel La Dame de cœur, among other notable works like L'Étoile absinthe (1947) and biographies of Colette (English French Wikipedia).