Leblanc, Maurice

Maurice Marie Émile Leblanc was a French author born in Rouen, Normandy. His father was a shipowner. Leblanc did well at school, received several prizes and he turned out to have a talent for writing. He also spent a great deal of time in the open air, making long excursions in the countryside near his hometown. After attending Lycée Pierre Corneille in Rouen he began to read law in Paris, but he soon returned home to join his father’s company. During this period he published short stories in magazines, and in 1890 came his first novel, Des couples (1890), which was followed by Une femme (1893). The latter is a psychological drama in which the author criticizes bourgeois values; it created some attention in his native Normandy.