The Tale of the Rose: The Love Story Behind The Little PrinceIn the spring of 1944, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry left his wife, Consuelo, to return to the war in Europe. Soon after, he disappeared while flying a reconnaissance mission over occupied France. Neither his plane nor his body was ever found. The Tale of the Rose is Consuelo’s account of their extraordinary marriage. It is a love story about a pilot and his wife, a man who yearned for the stars and the spirited woman who gave him the strength to fulfill his dreams. Consuelo Suncin Sandoval de Gómez and Antoine de Saint-Exupéry met in Buenos Aires in 1930—she a seductive young widow, he a brave pioneer of early aviation, decorated for his acts of heroism in the deserts of North Africa. He was large in his passions, a fierce loner with a childlike appetite for danger. She was frail and voluble, exotic and capricious. Within hours of their first encounter, he knew he would have her as his wife. Their love affair and marriage would take them from Buenos Aires to Paris to Casablanca to New York. It would take them through periods of betrayal and infidelity, pain and intense passion, devastating abandonment and tender, poetic love. Several times in the course of their marriage they would go their separate ways, but always they would return. The Tale of the Rose is the story of a man of extravagant dreams, and of the woman who was his muse, the inspiration for the Little Prince’s beloved rose—unique in all the world—whom he could not live with and could not live without. Written on Long Island in a quiet spell of reconciliation, The Little Prince was Antoine’s greatest gift to the woman he never stopped loving, the only child to emerge from their union. The Tale of the Rose is Consuelo’s reply—the love letter she never could write to her husband—a fable of its own, just as magical, poetic, and tragic as The Little Prince. Praise for The Tale of the Rose “We find in these pages all the tenderness and patience, but also the tenacity, of a woman who loves. Consuelo does not seek to explain or even to understand her husband, she accepts him and leads him to what he must be. . . . Written with a strong and authentic voice, The Tale of the Rose is a book to read for its strength of character, and for the adventure that it offers.”—Elle |
Contents
Section 1 | 8 |
Section 2 | 43 |
Section 3 | 63 |
Section 4 | 67 |
Section 5 | 68 |
Section 6 | 86 |
Section 7 | 98 |
Section 8 | 103 |
Section 15 | 193 |
Section 16 | 199 |
Section 17 | 205 |
Section 18 | 219 |
Section 19 | 221 |
Section 20 | 264 |
Section 21 | 266 |
Section 22 | 273 |
Section 9 | 114 |
Section 10 | 126 |
Section 11 | 146 |
Section 12 | 147 |
Section 13 | 159 |
Section 14 | 166 |
Section 23 | 289 |
Section 24 | 309 |
Section 25 | 323 |
Section 26 | 325 |
Other editions - View all
The Tale of the Rose: The Love Story Behind The Little Prince Consuelo de Saint-Exupery No preview available - 2003 |
Common terms and phrases
able afraid already answered apartment arms arrived asked beautiful began boat bring Buenos Aires called coming Consuelo decided didn't don't door dream dressed drink everything eyes face feel felt finally flight flowers France French friends gave girl give Gómez gone hand happy head heart hour husband I'll keep kiss knew later laughed leave letter Listen live longer look Madame married minutes morning mother move never night once Paris pilot plane remember Saint-Exupéry sitting sleep sometimes soon speak stay stop story strange talk tell things thought told Tonio took turn understand voice waiting walk whole wife woman women write wrote York young