The Defiant Woman

The extraordinary journey of Françoise Pène leads through turbulent and sometimes perilous world events: life in France’s Madagascar colony, in Ethiopia – witnessing the coronation of Emperor Haile Selassie, and in the French Resistance during World War II – her husband Pierre serving as head of the Paris region.

Françoise Pène meets preeminent world leaders: Général de Gaulle, European Union founder Robert Schuman, Free French Forces General and future Marshall Marie-Pierre Koenig, France’s Ambassador to Germany André François Poncet, François Mitterand, Monaco’s Prince Rainier and Grace Kelly... The rich tapestry of her stories conveys the ordeal in a Nazi dungeon, the charms of postwar-life in a German chateau, and even the appeal of her art as a painter. This chronicle of a French family pays homage to the courage of all the women who gave themselves fully so that France would endure.