Madame Gstaad

In their first novel, Gottfried and Andrea von Siebenthal recount the fascinating true story of Emilie Steffen-von Siebenthal (1846-1922) in a fact-filled and imaginative way. Born in Gstaad into a poor family of 14 children, Emilie, like many others from the region, leaves her home as a young woman in search of a better life. After several years in Geneva and Paris, she returns home. As a baker's wife, she becomes an important person in the village and, unwillingly, a key figure in the village fire that destroys half the village in 1898 and changes the lives of those involved forever. Against all odds, she becomes a formative figure in the village as tourism begins to flourish - "Madame Gstaad".