We feel feverish before the release of each of your new books … Is that also the case for “fragile hours”?
Yes, it’s something that fascinates me; The fact that stress does not decrease, that the intensity of emotions never weaken. It is like an eternal first time; I even believe that it is worse since at that time, I was convinced that nobody was going to read me! (Laughs) Today, I feel a certain impatience in the messages of my readers, enough to nourish my apprehension a little more … But it is an impatience and a rather joyful stress. I like this period when everything is still possible. The best like the worst, nothing is written. On the other hand, the promotion sometimes does not make the stage fright. Before each of my TV passages, I don’t sleep for at least three nights!
Is it true that you can call your editor by saying “is it shit what I’m writing, we stop everything”?
Quite. It is something that I feel deeply when I realize, it is even painful. I only see the faults, I persevere confidence … the good side? I am very demanding towards myself. The day I say “This book is great!“, it will be a bad sign! (Laugh)
Virginie Grimaldi evokes her difficult adolescence: “I was entangled in anxiety attacks”
The subjects you approach in your book, the mental health of young people and what we transmit to our children of our past are very current themes. How did they come to you?
I see around me the teens who are bad. I myself experienced a very difficult adolescence. I was entangled in anxiety attacks and existential questions. I see myself at 16, get up at night to write poems about the reasons for living. I didn’t want to grow up. This is what helped me build the character of Lou. And then, today I am the mother of a teenager, with all that it drains an anxiety and questioning. Unfortunately, there are certain things that cannot be resolved from the moment they grow. When they are small, it’s easy. Almost everything can be healed with magic kisses. But when they are older and they have their own personality, in a violent and anxiety -provoking world, you sometimes feel helpless. You have to find the right middle between paying attention and letting live. I communicate a lot with my son but I also want to respect his secret garden. It is a very fragile balance that I had anticipated but I had probably not measured complexity. And again, I am only at the beginning of his adolescence …
Do you have to heal his injuries from the past to be a better parent?
I am convinced. Anyway, I am the type to make therapies, to question myself; It’s really part of my construction. It is a job that also allows us to better understand our parents. I find myself saying sentences that they repeated to me and that I hated! (Laugh). I work a lot on my anxieties, to learn to overcome them and show my children that anything is possible. Above all, I want them to remember that we can be happy, even by being an anxious.
Virginie Grimaldi: one of her books soon adapted in series!
Recently, you attended the filming of the adapted mini-series of your book, the scent of happiness is stronger in the rain …
I had a smile on his lips and tears in my eyes. It was extremely moving. The result is magnificent. The writers respected the text, humor and emotion. This is very important for me because I have a responsibility for my readers. I especially don’t want them to be disappointed. When I write, I don’t do it thinking of a possible adaptation. Besides, I refuse most proposals, when they do not correspond to the spirit of the book. Several people have already positioned themselves to acquire the rights of my latest novel the fragile hours, which is released today. I will study everything that is present and see if something makes me want to go. But first there will be the adaptation of larger than the sky that I published in 2024!
On your Instagram account, you can be felt very happy, constantly amazed. Is this your life philosopher?
There is really something that has changed in me to the loss of my first son. I believe that before, I did not have this propensity to enjoy the little pleasures, to detect them. I lived my life without paying attention to all of this, without asking any questions. Then everything changed … without being an eternal optimist, I am able today to stop and say to myself: “This moment is beautiful, he feels good“.
Fragile hours, at Flammarion editions
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