Marianne-Agnès Falques

Falques became a nun; reportedly, her family had sent her there for financial reasons,[3][4] but after ten years of religious life, she was able to have her religious vows annulled and she left the convent. Some sources say she tried to return to her family but was rejected.[3] Most agree that she moved to Paris to begin her writing career.[3][4]

Falques's first works were said to be translations, though they may have been original stories that were labeled as such. In 1751, she published, The Triumph of Friendship Book, translated from the Greek, and listed herself, the author, using the mysterious name: Mlle. de **.[3] Her second, titled Abassaï, an Oriental History, was a romantic tale published in 1753.[8][9] (In 1758, she would write a novel with the subtitle, "by the author of Abassaï."[2])

Her third title was Tales from the Harem, translated from Turkish, published in The Hague, 1753.[10]

Falques herself became the subject of scandalous chronicles in Paris and moved into exile in England.[1] From there, she published in English and then translated into French, several controversial views of French society, notably the text titled the History of Madame la Marquise de Pompadour in 1759, a book that was well known by Voltaire and all of Paris, and illustrates the full measure of the author's audacity and independent spirit. In the book, the author claims that the Marquise de Pompadour was illegitimate by birth and made many other inflammatory allegations.[11][12]

Meanwhile, the real-life Madame de Pompadour, the subject of the Falques book, occupied the position of "favorite" as the official mistress of King Louis XV, and Falques' scandalous text was not received well at court. One source says that the Count d'Affry, serving as Minister of France, was charged by the King to take all of the copies of the book and destroy them. However, the book went into multiple printings in French, English and German, frustrating the King's desires and d'Affry's efforts.[1]

This text grew famous throughout Europe in its time. With her unflattering portrait of the "favorite" (as the chief mistress to the King was known), Falques opened for ridicule the Court's widespread corruption. According to Gary Kates,[12]

"Fauques's method of combining sexual and political intrigue into a synthesis that essentially blamed the failures of Louis's reign on debauchery spawned a virtual literary industry during the second half of the eighteenth century. French hack writers of various stripes took up residence in England to lambaste their King. Among the most prominent was Charles Théveneau de Morande, whose Gazetier cuirassé (1771) was a scathing portrayal of decadence at the court of Louis XV."[12]

Some sources say Falques died in 1773.[3][4][5] (An original source shows that a married woman by the name of Marie-Anne Pillement died in Paris on 22 November 1773.[13]) Some sources say Falques returned to France to end her days "after 1777."[14] Still others propose that she died about 1785, perhaps in London.[2][7][1]