Camille Marbo

Marguerite Borel known as Camille Marbo (; 11 April 1883 – 5 February 1969) née Marguerite Appell, was a 20th-century French writer, president and laureate of the Prix Femina in 1913 and president of the Société des gens de lettres.

Biography Daughter of mathematician, Paul Appell (1855–1930), Camille Marbo was given the name Marguerite Appell.

In 1901, she married the mathematician and politician Émile Borel (1871–1956).

In 1906, she created La Revue du mois, a scientific and literary journal, with her husband. The publication allowed contributors the opportunity to choose and discuss subjects as they pleased. Marguerite Borel personally took charge of the critiques of plays, novels, and various chronicles.

When she began writing novels, she chose the pseudonym Camille Marbo, the name Marbo taking the first three letters of her first name Marguerite and the first two of her last name Borel.

In 1913, Camille Marbo was awarded the Prix Femina, then called Prix de la Vie heureuse, for her first novel La statue voilée.

During the First World War, she set up the Comité de secours national, the national relief committee with her father. She also founded and ran a temporary hospital in Paris, which earned her the Medal of French Gratitude. In 1916, she was asked to participate in the organization of women in the workforce in place of the men who had gone to battle. Benefiting from her experience as head of the hospital, she created a recruitment centre for women, which auditioned, tested, and employed both salaried employees and volunteers in the services sector. More than 20,000 women were employed through this program. The treatise she published in 1919, "Mobilization féminine en France", documents the contribution of these women to the Allied victory. This document is notable for its unique content as well as its methodical and professional form. It is carefully contextualized and enriched with statistics.

She wrote about forty other novels, some monographs and memoirs.

A friend of Marie Curie, she welcomed Marie and her daughters into her home and gave them shelter during the "affaire Langevin", a revelation made by the press of an extramarital affair between Marie Curie, a widow at the time, and Paul Langevin.

Marguerite Borel took part in the political life of Saint-Affrique and participated in the electoral campaigns of her husband, Émile Borel. Marguerite herself was deputy mayor of Saint-Affrique from 1947 to 1954.

In February 1928, Camille Marbo succeeded Jean Dornis as president of the Denier des veuves de la SGDL, giving assistance to the widows of writers without resources.

She became president of the Société des gens de lettres in 1937 and was re-elected in 1938 and again after the liberation in 1947. She was also a member of the jury of the Prix Femina and later became its president.

She published her memoirs in 1967 under the title À travers deux siècles, souvenirs et rencontres (1883-1967).

Marguerite died in 1969. She was a Commander of the Legion Of Honour.

Works

1906: Christine Rodis 1913: La Statue voilée, (Prix Femina in 1913) 1918: Le Survivant 1924: Les Cahiers de Francine 1925: À l'enseigne du Griffon 1926: Hélène Barraux (celle qui défiait l'amour) 1931: À bord de la "Croix du Sud" 1932: Celle qui défiait l'amour 1933: Ruth 1934: Le Perroquet bleu 1936: Flammes juives 1938: Les Millions de l'émir 1941: Le Créole au cœur ardent 1941: Violette et son cœur 1943: La Baie des courlis 1944: L'Oiseau captif 1945: Le Buisson de lilas 1945: La Nièce du boucanier 1946: La Maison Bartholène 1947: L'Enigme du manoir 1947: Tante Estelle 1948: L'Idole offensée 1949: Sous les eucalyptus 1949: Le Chateau condamné 1950: La Tour carrée 1951: La Reine de Golconde 1952: Monsieur Charles 1953: Douce marraine 1953: Jeux de la science et de l'amour 1955: Isabelle et le secret 1955: Le Visiteur inconnu 1956: L'Amie de pension 1957: Le Bel héritage 1958: Mademoiselle Anaïs 1959: La Dame de Maison-Blanche 1959: Les Lettres 1960: Le Diamant bleu 1961: La Dernière nuit 1961: Un Étrange garçon 1962: Le Fiancé mystérieux 1963: La Protectrice 1964: Les Amoureux du Castillou 1965: L'Énigmatique Sylvio 1965: Le Sel de ma vie 1966: Mon amour, d'où viens-tu ? 1967: À travers deux siècles, souvenirs et rencontres (1883–1967), Paris, Grasset 1967: Clara Fontaine

Distinctions Commander of the Legion Of Honour. Prix Femina, then called Prix de la Vie heureuse, 1913. Medal of French Gratitude.