Remembrance of Roses

Author: Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2002-09-01
Features: In 1944, the great French pilot and writer Antoine de Saint-Exupéry disappeared during a military flight, vanishing into the sky he loved, much like the Little Prince in his own story. Thus, the pilot first became a writer, then a hero, and finally a god. As Saint-Exupéry's wife, Consuelo was tied to too many legends and enigmatic mysteries. In 1927, they met in the exotic Buenos Aires, where the boyish pilot was immediately captivated by the elegant, beautiful, and stubborn Spanish girl, and at once "abducted" her into the sky "to see the stars." Consuelo was also moved by the words Saint-Exupéry wrote in between flights, and so she confined her fiancé to force him to write. In 1931, the two finally walked down the aisle of marriage, but happiness seemed always to elude them—lacking mutual understanding and harmony, the more they loved, the deeper their wounds.
Saint-Exupéry gained fame, followed by honors, flowers, and endless social engagements, but glory belonged only to the husband, leaving the wife neglected and marginalized, weaving her fragile, broken heart in her own corner. It wasn’t that she didn’t love him—it was just that, as he wrote in The Little Prince, "I was too young to know how to love." But Consuelo endured, always hoping in despair, yet never able to shake the shadow of despair from her hope.
Living in legend, their story was filled with extraordinary moments beyond ordinary imagination. Why did their love run so deep, so painfully, so completely, yet so heartbrokenly? Consuelo merely recorded the life she shared with her beloved, without passing judgment on right or wrong.