[2] François was born in Nancy as the eldest of three children; early on in her schooling, she gave evidence of great memory and a gift for writing.

François and Pichaud lived in Saumane-de-Vaucluse for twenty-five years[3] before moving to Paris[1] in 1985, amid health problems.

"[9] Love, or the "ardeur [de l'amour] qui structure les jours," is an overarching theme in all her work, poetry or prose.

[4] In Joue-nous "España" (1980), "based on the author's childhood and adolescence," François investigates the influence of a strict Catholic education on a child's understanding of religion, love, and the world.

Their relationship is threatened by the machinations of a psychologist and her husband, and rendered even more difficult by the mental problems experienced by Cécile's (grown) children.

Some of the autobiographical aspects have been clarified by the intermediate publication of Le Cahier vert, 1961-1989 (1990), a journal of the author's childhood, which includes an account of her long relationship with a Marie-Claire Pichaud—a painter and a potter—versions of whom inhabit the novels.