As a child, he lived in the castle of Saint-Fargeau in Yonne, property of his mother Henriette Isabelle Anisson du Perron. He recreated the era in his novel Au plaisir de Dieu which was adapted for TV. The Saint-Fargeau estate is famous for having been owned by Anne-Marie-Louise d'Orléans, la Grande Mademoiselle, first cousin of king Louis XIV.