France buys scandalous Sarkozy tales

It might be satire, but much of it is probably true. The French have put a salacious tale about politics on top of a bestseller list for seven weeks now, and Nicolas Sarkozy stars as a pelvis-thrusting character called "Rocky."

Marie-Celie Guillaume, a former chief of staff for a Minister in Sarkozy’s now defunct government, has published Le Monarque, Son Fils, Son Fief ("The Monarch, His son, His fief"). It has been called a "fable." Earlier this summer Guillaume was fired from her job for publishing the work, which naturally resulted in greater publicity and sales, the Guardian reports.

Rocky, aka Sarkozy, is portrayed in a rather unflattering light. At one point he demands attention from a female politician. He tells her: "Look at the state I’m in, you can’t leave me like this ... "

Sarkozy’s son Jean has called the book  a "vile and sordid tissue of lies." The author calls the book (interview here) a portrayal of politics in its most "crude and brutal form."