The 'Memoires de Celeste Mogador' is a Bildungsroman narrating the life a a prostitute and an actress. Censorship may have been the reason the book was not better known in its own time, and maybe even today. She eventually marries a count with whom she has an affair and follows him when he becomes French consul to Australia. The books recounts the life of an exceptional 19th century heroine, who has the strength to succeed despite a society which limits female roles and has ideas about proper marriages.