Carles was educated in a local school but travelled to Paris to complete her teaching diploma when she was sixteen.

They experienced a tragedy during the Second World War when their daughter was killed in a pedestrian traffic accident with a military truck.

The book became a huge success selling millions of copies and being translated into numerous languages.

[2][7][3][4][5][6] During the 1970s Carles discovered there were plans to build a highway through the Vallée de la Clarée.

She led a demonstration on 13 August 1974 to Briançon which included 13 tractors and about 300 people at the height of harvest season.