Macron stepdaughter opens the book on France’s unorthodox first family

Tiphaine Auziere’s first foray into the literary world has become one of the most talked-about books in France.

Tiphaine Auziere is less than seven years younger than her stepfather. Picture: Getty Images

When an employment lawyer from the French provinces brings out a debut novel, it might not be expected to attract much attention.

But Tiphaine Auziere, 40, is also the stepdaughter of President Emmanuel Macron and her first foray into the literary world has become one of the most talked-about books in France – shining a spotlight on the unusual dynamics of the country’s first family.

Assises, published last week, is a courtroom drama that draws on Auziere’s early experiences as an advocate in gritty northern France. One of the book’s dedications stands out: “To Emmanuel, who showed me that nothing is impossible.”

While critics have praised its style and pace, much attention has been focused on the author’s story. In a pre-publication interview she told Paris Match magazine about “the attacks, the backbiting, the judgments” she faced as a 10-year-old when her mother, Brigitte, then a 40-something teacher at a Jesuit high school in Amiens, fell for the future president, 24 years her junior, while he was a pupil there.

Sitting in the office of her law firm a 10-minute walk from the Elysee Palace, Auziere did not deny the affair had set their neighbours’ tongues wagging, but insists this was only part of the story.

“When I was young I heard criticism, remarks about my family, and I still hear them about my family today,” she told The Sunday Times.

“It forged my temperament and gave me strength. But the dogs bark and the caravan moves on. It hasn’t changed my life. I’ve learnt to live with it and independently of it.”  Blended families such as hers can also turn out to be an “opportunity” if formed with “love, kindness and respect”. Auziere, the youngest of Brigitte Macron’s three children with her first husband, adds: “I have a father whom I loved dearly, who unfortunately passed away, and a father-in-law whom I love dearly. In life, there are blood ties and there are other ties that can be just as strong.”

Her mother’s relationship with Mr Macron broke up her marriage to Andre-Louis Auziere, a banker. The experience, Auziere says, was “painful” for all concerned. Mr Macron, 46, is less than seven years older than her.

However three decades later, the combined family remains close: Auziere says she and her siblings – she also has an elder brother, Sebastien – are frequent visitors to the Elysee Palace with their partners and seven children ­between them.

“We like to see each other very regularly, we’re an extremely close-knit family,” she says. “Emmanuel considers them his grandchildren. And Emmanuel is their grandfather.”

Although Auziere works in Paris, she and her partner, Antoine Choteau, 44, a gastroenterologist, live with daughter Elise, 10, and son Aurele, 8, a few kilometres from Le Touquet, a chic seaside ­resort. Brigitte Macron owns a villa there that she inherited from her father, where she and the President often spend weekends.

French President Emmanuel Macron kisses his wife Brigitte after taking office in May 2017. Picture: Reuters

The link with Mr Macron, who has been a divisive figure in France during his seven years in power, has coloured Auziere’s life. “There are those who detest you without knowing you, others who adore you without knowing you,” she says. “You learn to live with it.”

For that reason, she said she considered using a nom de plume for her novel.

It also means she has taken care to protect her own children, making a point of discussing with them anything hurtful said by classmates. They seem to be coping well.

“I think that by now they, too, have learnt to live with it,” she said.

Auziere began the book a couple of years ago without saying anything to her family; when she finished it a year later she showed it to a literary agent she came across through work. The agent passed it to Stock, one of France’s most prestigious publishers, which bought it.

Only then did she pluck up the courage to show the manuscript to Brigitte, a book lover, who had introduced her daughter to authors such as Jane Austen; Pride and Prejudice is Auziere’s favourite.

It was a double test, she said: not only because Brigitte was her mother, but also because she was a “passionate teacher of literature and French”.

“She really liked it and gave me the nicest compliment, which was to say, ‘I’m sorry I didn’t detect this talent’.”

By contrast, she waited to show it to Mr Macron until the book was printed.

“I wanted him to have the most beautiful version,” she said.

On publication day, when we met, she said she was planning to take a copy to the Elysee Palace that evening. The President once said that as a teenager he felt becoming a writer was his “only vocation”.

In the dedications, Auziere ­refers to her father as “my precious star”. After the break-up, Andre-Louis Auziere kept a low profile: he never gave interviews even after Mr Macron stood for president and the media turned its focus on his personal life.

“He made the choice to remain anonymous, as anonymous as possible,” Auziere says.

“He didn’t want anything to be said about him.”

The Sunday Times