Geneviève des Cars Duchesse de Vallombrosa

By the autumn of 1886 CD had already begun collecting notes from friends in Marseilles as material for Ninette. She dedicated this novel to the Gentle Memory of her close friend the Duchesse de Vallombrosa

CD 's friendships lay within her own class and interests. Her autobiography lists a series of friendships, of varying degrees of closeness, with members of the aristocracy and men of letters. She shared a close...