Ua much loved home which contains dear memories, in Anglet, in the Basque Country. This is where Yes after a long period of silence, they find the sisters Emma, the eldest, and Agathe, the youngest. The occasion is sad, the beloved grandmother Mima is no longer therethe house has been soldthey will spend a week there before it is delivered to the new owners.
Focused on the relationship between the sisters, who will have the opportunity to rediscover themselves, retrace their past and make peace with their anxieties, the story gradually reveals complex backgrounds, interwoven with lights and shadows. Family plots and secrets, sometimes painful, sometimes revealing, narrated with delicacy, poetry, touches of humor and several twists. In the background, the ocean where the protagonists dive and float as if in suspended time.
A beautiful life is signed by Virginie Grimaldi, one of the most read writers in France, with five million books sold. A life story that makes the strings of feelings and emotions vibrate.
Virginie Grimaldi is 48 years old and lives in Bordeaux. She is the most read French author in her country. She loves the ocean of the Basque Country, and above all her husband and her two children. She is generous with autobiographical references in the books she writes. Photo: Pascal Ito © Éditions Flammarion
What inspired this latest novel?
All my books start from experiences I have lived. In this case the spark was my sister Marie, younger than six years, one of the most important people in my life. At times we drifted apart, but my dad’s illness brought us together again. I wanted to talk about this type of bond that is strong and fragile at the same time.
The title is inspired by a consideration by Emma. In your opinion, what does a good life consist of?
Life, full of trials and dramas to face, is beautiful when we are able to appreciate the joy of small everyday things, without seeking the exceptional. I lost my dad last July and my grandfather, to whom I was very attached, in August. I found consolation for the pain by watching my children grow up, immersing myself in everyday life. You have to know how to capture the small moments of serenity.
The story unfolds between past and present.
The passing of time is one of my favorite themes. There are often flashbacks in my books because I am convinced that childhood determines the person we will become. In a previous book of mine I told the story of my father, a child who grew up without love. I’m interested in exploring the theme of how we build ourselves when we have vulnerabilities, like Emma and Agathe, in fact.
The importance of memories is the common thread throughout the book.
Memories are one of the most precious things we have, they mark our heart. Sometimes they disappear, to suddenly return, perhaps recalled by a smell. As happens to the two sisters in their grandmother’s attic. My father had fallen ill with Alzheimer’s and had lost all memories of him. Something really dramatic.
Agathe experiences her position as younger sister in a very painful way.
The first-born “starts the family”, in Agathe’s words, and receives more attention from the parents, including their anxieties and insecurities, while the second-born is sometimes left more free. But it is also true that often the eldest, a former only child, initially suffers from no longer being the center of everything, like Emma.
All female protagonists and men in the background (the best, apart from one, are dead). Is there a feminist streak recognizable in this?
Yes, I admit it, I’m a feminist. My characters are mostly women and men often have a somewhat negative role.
The story touches on difficult topics…
To evolve mentality I believe it is important to talk about situations such as violence towards children or psychiatric problems. There are bipolar people in my family and I myself sometimes have panic attacks. I tend not to write “feelgood” books, I describe the facts of life and for this reason the happy ending is not a given. I let a few tears fall, because crying is good, it’s comforting and liberating. Wash away the pain. But with humorous touches.
A beautiful life by Virginie Grimaldi, E/O Editions288 pages, €18
Where do you find expressions like «I get up with the enthusiasm of a seaweed»?
It comes naturally to me, I developed it since I was little because I like to make others laugh. I confess that when ideas come to me I laugh alone and then I insert them into the stories.
Grandma Mima is a fixed point in the lives of the two sisters.
It is the girls’ solid reference with its constant presence, hot chocolate or courgette pasta, a legacy of Italian origins. For her character I was inspired by Marianna, my grandmother from Turin, with her notebooks of recipes and poems. Older people are often overlooked and instead have a lot to tell us about their lives. Even the most secret one, like Mima. Do you have a “room of your own” where you write? We have a pavilion in our backyard and I love retreating there to write. The next novel? A love story between a man and a woman who meet in a psychologist’s waiting room.
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