haye lived in the town of mortagne-au-perche in orne, normandy, western france, since she was 19 years old. she worked as a babysitter and a teacher until her three daughters grew up and left home. she then devoted herself to literature, publishing poems under the pseudonym anne moranget. in 2000, after she fractured her femur, she was confined to a wheelchair, and went to live in the mortagne-au-perche retirement home for the final two years of her life. she died in her sleep.