When: Thursday, October 16
Where: 192 Books; 192 Tenth Ave. at 21st St., NYC
What Time: 7 p.m.
Event Information: Seating is limited: reservations necessary:  212.255.4022

Francine du Plessix Gray , author of Them: A Memoir of Parents, which won the National Book Critics Circle Award, and friend of 192 Books returns with her marvelous biography of Madame de Stael;  Madame De Stael: The First Modern Woman (Atlas & Co.  2008).

The daughter of the second most important man in France, Louis XVI's Minister of Finances, Jacques Necker, Madame de Staël was born into a world of political and intellectual prominence. Despite a plain appearance, she was notoriously seductive and enjoyed whirlwind affairs with some of the most influential men of her time. She always attracted controversy, and was demonized by Napoleon for her forthrightness, the sheer power of her intellect, and the progressiveness of her salon, which was a hotbed for the expression of liberal ideals. The emperor exiled her, on and off, for the last fifteen years of her life.