Odette de Mourgues was born in 1914 in Le Puy-en-Velay in France, the daughter of Pierre de Mourgues, physician, and Hélène Terle. She attended the Lycée in Le Puy, and then studied law at the Universities of Grenoble and Aix-en-Provence before practising briefly as a barrister. She married in 1934 but the marriage was dissolved in 1943. Odette de Mourgues held teaching posts at Valence, Digne, Marseilles and Aix-en Provence between 1942 and 1946 and was a member of the French Resistance before arriving at Girton College in 1946. She was a research student at Girton from 1946-48, working on French and English poets of the late 16th and early 17th centuries (she was awarded a PhD in 1950). She later published literary criticism, essays, novels and numerous articles, writing mostly on 17th century French literature. Odette remained at Girton for the rest of her working life, undertaking teaching and research and holding various appointments at Girton and in the University of Cambridge. She held a Personal Chair in French in the University of Cambridge from 1975 until her retirement in 1980 and she was a Life Fellow at Girton from 1980 until her death in 1988. [Information drawn from Girton College Register Volume II and from an obituary in Girton College Review 1988.]