Emmanuel Bove

Emmanuel Bove (20 April 1898 – 19 July 1945) was a French writer, who also published under the pseudonyms of Pierre Dugast and Jean Vallois.

Life and career

Emmanuel Bove was born Emmanuel Bobovnikoff on 20 April 1898 in Paris to a Jewish father who migrated from Ukraine and a Luxembourgish mother. He studied at the École alsacienne in Paris and the Collège Calvin in Geneva. At the age of 14, he decided to become a novelist.

In 1921, he married Suzanne Vallois and moved to the suburbs of Vienna. There he began his writing career, publishing numerous popular novels under the pseudonym Jean Vallois. He returned to Paris in 1922 and worked as a journalist. His work came to the attention of Colette, who helped him publish his first novel under his own name, Mes amis (My Friends) in 1924. The novel became a success and he consistently published until the Second World War, winning the prix Figuière in 1928.

In 1940, he was mobilized as a laborer and hoped to be able to flee to London. He refused to publish any works during the Occupation. He managed to escape to Algiers in 1942, where he wrote his three final novels: le Piège, Départ dans la nuit and Non-lieu.

He returned to Paris in poor health from diseases caught during his Algerian exile. He died in Paris on 19 July 1945, due to cachexia and heart failure.