In Our Time: Colette

The novels of French writer Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette (1873-1954) always had women at their centre, from youth to mid-life to old age, and they were phenomenally popular, at first for their freshness and frankness about women's lives, as in the Claudine stories, and soon for their sheer quality as she developed as a writer. Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss her work and contribution to the genre