October 1, 2024

‘Lisette’ by French-Australian Author Catherine Rey

The Story of the Totally Remarkable Lisette Nigot

Lisette is a moving tribute to the remarkable person we know as Lisette Nigot, the woman who ‘didn’t want to turn 80’.

French-born, Lisette immigrated to the US immediately after WW2 where she created a career for herself as publicist at the famed Waldorf Astoria hotel.

Mingling with artists (Dali), political leaders (JFK) and movie stars (Marilyn), Lisette was living the dream of a most glamorous life, until she wasn’t.

In her later years she immigrated again, this time to far-flung Perth in West Australia. Here she made headlines in ways wholly unintended: because she took her own life on the eve of turning 80. Lisette had long ago decided that 80 was the time to die.

The subject of Janine Hosking’s 2004 documentary ‘Mademoiselle & the Doctor’, Lisette is now the subject of Catherine Rey’s new book of the same name.

ISBN: 9780645920994

Buy now from Amazon (internationally)
Or Gazebo Books (Australia)

Book Extract

17 November. Sunday. 6am.

You don’t feel like doing it today. You never procrastinate. It’s not like you. But you feel suddenly tired, overwhelmed, nauseated by the whole thing.

Today, you’ll write the note you intend to pin on the wall of your bedroom. You’ll keep it short. A brief and clear message.

You scrawl a few sentences and finally opt for these ones: After eighty years of a good life, I’ve had enough of it. I want to stop it before it gets bad.