"It seemed to me the only way to take back control of my life was to recount it," she begins.
In barbed purple prose "worthy of Barbara Cartland", according to one critic, Trierweiler lays into almost every aspect of Hollande's character, recounting in graphic detail the highs and lows of their relationship and 18 months in the Elysee Palace.
One of the most controversial passages recounts the conditions in which she was kept in hospital for a week after taking sleeping pills in the Elysee bedroom following the break-up.
Despite feeling weak, Trierweiler says she insisted that she wanted to travel to Tulle, Hollande's powerbase in Correze, central France, for his New Year's greetings. The day after mentioning her intention to the President, she says she was "unable to get up".
"Every time I try and put a foot out of the bed, I collapse ... I only understand why later. The doses of tranquillisers were over-multiplied to stop me going to Tulle," she writes.
Later she speaks of "instructions from on high to increase my dose".
Trierweiler recounts how she spoke to Gayet on the telephone, asking her to deny the rumours of the affair. She said that Gayet replied that her lawyer had threatened to sue anyone who spread them.
"How can anyone lie so much?" Trierweiler asks.
She recounts how, when the rumours became more persistent, she swallowed an entire pack of sleeping pills, after which Hollande "drags her to the bathroom to vomit", then leaves her on the Elysee bed and does not come back. She accuses him of "non-assistance of a person in danger".
Much of the book is taken up recounting Hollande's apparent attempts to woo her back after the humiliating split.
The President, she says, invites her to "spend the last night together", even after showing her his separation statement. She adds: "A few weeks ago, he proposed marrying me. That was the third time."
On his 60th birthday last month, Hollande sent her a text, she claims, saying: "It is for you to say 'yes' to me".
Much of Trierweiler's fire is turned on Segolene Royal, the mother of the President's four children and his Ecology Minister. Their relationship ended due to his affair with Trierweiler. To make a point about how hard it was to deal with Royal being constantly in the media eye, she put photographs of her ex-husband on the walls until Hollande complained.
She also claims that Royal had offered not to run for president if Hollande promised to leave Trierweiler, and that in 2012 Royal agreed to support his candidacy in primaries in exchange for "financial" gain.
Yesterday, Royal poured scorn on the book, particularly over claims that Hollande "doesn't like the poor" and refers to them as "toothless".
"It's rubbish, it's the exact opposite of the political commitment of a great leader of the Left," she said. Even Marine Le Pen, far-Right Front National leader, said the book was a "profoundly indecent settling of scores".
The release could not come at a worse time for Hollande, whose approval ratings yesterday fell to an all-time low of 13 per cent, show a TNS-Sofres poll.
Telegraph Group Ltd
