Edmond de Goncourt was a French writer, literary and art critic, publisher, and founder of the Académie Goncourt, a French literary association based in Paris. His brother Jules was a partner in the publishing business. As collaborative authors, they were inseparable in both life and art. Together they published six novels, of which Germinie Lacerteux, first printed in 1865, was the fourth. The story is based on the true case of their own maidservant, Rose Malingre, who led a double life. French text.