“Immortality okay, but with whom? »

Your new novel transports us to the artists, from the workshops of Montmartre to the gardens of Giverny. Make our mouths water…

It depicts Camille and her daughter, Flora, in the world of impressionist painters, between 1867 and 1919. From the struggles of the Commune to those of the “broken faces”, these two women fight to realize their dreams.

What does this book reveal about you?

My passion for this artistic movement, transmitted by my mother. It was she who took me to Parisian museums to discover Monet, Manet, Cézanne, Renoir. These memories are very dear to me.

A film you could watch a hundred times?

The Adventure of Mrs Muir, by Joseph L. Mankiewicz. A fan of cinema from the 1940s and 1950s, I have seen and re-watched this film with its dreamlike atmosphere. The action takes place at the beginning of the 20th century in an English seaside cottage.

The people who meant the most in your family?

My parents, Christiane and Michel. I come from a family where we loved to talk and tell stories. What breeding ground for an author! My mother, who was my first reader, typed all my novels until she was 94. She was very proud of it.

What place crosses the generations in your home?

The Sainte-Clotilde basilica, in Reims. My great-grandfather, a masonry contractor, was one of the builders. The first stone was laid in 1898, the year my grandfather Pierre and his twin brother Paul were born. In this context, their first names are not the result of chance.

You have three days, a backpack and no car. Where are you going?

From the Drôme Provençale where I live, my husband and I reach Sisteron and Digne-les-Bains (Alpes-de-Haute-Provence). And we stop at Moustiers-Sainte-Marie for a picnic on the banks of the Verdon.

An inspiring landscape?

A field of lavender waving in the breeze, at the foot of the Château de Grignan or in Valensole.

The beauty that will save the world?

That of works of art: Print, rising sun, by Monet; The creation of Adam, by Michelangelo; The starry night, by Van Gogh; and so many others…

We offer you immortality, do you sign?

Immortality okay, but with whom? I would sign on the condition that my loved ones were also immortal.