[1][2][3] She was the daughter of a Cambodian mother, Néang Mali, and a father who was a member of the French colonial administration, Pierre Mathieu Théodore Guesde.
"[2] Both works received significant recognition, notably from such writers as Paul Claudel, Léopold Sédar Senghor, Francis de Miomandre, and others.
[8] A 1940 article in the journal L'Echo annamite paid homage to Makhali-Phâl's writing on her Buddhist and Khmer culture: "Cambodge is a short poem in three parts.
"[9] Her first novel, La Favorite de dix ans, received positive critical reception for dealing with encounters between her different cultures; it was translated into English in 1942 as The Young Concubine, gaining a significant readership in the United States.
[1][2] It was followed by her book Narayana, ou Celui qui se meut sur les eaux, which won the Académie Française's Prix Lange [fr] in 1944.