Adèle Toussaint-Samson

Adèle Toussaint-Samson (1826–1911) was a French author and poet. She is the author of A Parisian in Brazil: The Travel Account of a Frenchwoman in Nineteenth-Century Rio de Janeiro. The 124-page book is one of the few first-person accounts by a female visitor to Latin America during this period.

In the mid-1800s, Toussaint-Samson traveled from Paris to Brazil with her husband to improve their family fortune. While in Brazil, Toussaint-Samson wrote A Parisian in Brazil, a portrait of slavery, gender relations, and daily life there. Toussaint-Samson also published several poems and essays.

In 1891, her daughter, Emma Toussaint, translated A Parisian in Brazil into English. In 2003, it was translated into Portuguese by Maria Inez Turazzi as Uma parisiense no Brasil. Rio de Janeiro: Editora Capivara, 2003.