Mélissa Da Costa, godmother of the book fair: “Angoulême, its readers and its bookstore, it’s a great story”

This Friday, from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., then Saturday, from 10:30 a.m. to noon and from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., she will dedicate, among others, “Tenir erect”, her new novel, and “Les femmes du bout du monde”, including the pocket format has just won the Angoumois public prize. A meeting is also scheduled for Saturday at 2 p.m.

“It’s a city that has been there since my very first novel, that carries me, that supports me. »

What does Angoulême inspire in you?

Angoulême, its readers and its bookstore, it’s really a great story. It’s a city that has been there since my very first novel, that carries me, that supports me. Pascal [Dulondel, NDLR]the bookseller, is one of those who received me at the very beginning.

How did Éléonore and François, the heroes of “Tenir erect”, appear in your life?

In “Phantom Pains” [paru en 2022]two men, among a large gallery of characters, were already fighting in a handicap course. I told myself that this issue could become a novel in its own right. I looked for a couple who would have an even more difficult journey to overcome the disability. I immediately wanted to create this illegitimate couple with a big age difference, in a phase of early passion which suddenly turns into disability.

The novel addresses psychological and physical rehabilitation after an accident. How did you go about describing all these steps? An internship in a rehabilitation center, proofreading by professionals…?

First, I bought a medical book. I found a lot of things there but I was unable to get into François’ shoes in the first person. I missed what you see in your flesh when half your body is insensible, almost dead. And then, I met Yann, a young thirty-something in a wheelchair. We were connected throughout the story. Once the novel was finished, I had a scientific proofread carried out by a neurologist who works with people with spinal cord injuries.

You wrote “All the blue in the sky” without knowing the Pyrenees where Émile and Joane, your two heroes, rub shoulders with the peaks… How did you manage to immerse yourself in this setting?

All it took was having the internet. I looked at a lot of photos, I browsed tourist office sites, hiker blogs which detail routes, landscapes, feelings, encounters… And Google maps allowed me to project myself into the decor.

The setting plays an important role in your novels but we are especially attached to your characters. When you start writing, do you already know the ending or are they guiding you?

I know roughly where I’m taking them and what the ending will be, but my characters can make me evolve. With “Stand Up”, for example, I thought I was writing a drama. No redemption, no light. In fact, my characters and especially the fact of having worked with Yann, of seeing him evolve with his partner Pauline, of seeing to what extent they were even more in love, it changed my vision of things.

“All the Blue in the Sky” was first launched on a self-publishing platform. Have you been looking for a publisher?

No. I didn’t want to waste time and money. I didn’t really know the industry and I had a lot of preconceptions. I told myself that without a piston, it wasn’t worth it. Readers have pushed me to the top of the rankings on this platform. It was great exposure and a publishing house spotted me.

A comic book adaptation released this summer, a single film for TF1 soon… Do you sometimes have the feeling that your baby is slipping away from you?

Yes, but he has already gained his independence, this baby. This is the first. It came out several years ago. He is autonomous. And each time, I find that the soul of the story is intact.

We initially classified you in the “feel good” category. That changed with “The Lining”. What is your category?

I don’t know… The Mélissa Da Costa category (laughs). I find it difficult to put several authors in the same bag. I would say that it is contemporary literature, psychological novels which deal with humans above all. I like it when we surf between darkness and hope.

Being the best-selling author in France, does that put pressure on you or boost you?

It boosts me. I’m not someone who puts pressure on myself. I don’t consider it a place to keep. This ranking is just a snapshot of what the French readership reads at a given time and therefore it is bound to evolve. And I don’t want to lock myself into one genre, I want to be able to explore lots of different themes.

In Charente, Marie-Bernadette Dupuy is also in the top 10 best-selling authors in France. Have you read any of his novels?

No, never. It amuses me to see that it is in all the rankings and that it is very little highlighted from a media point of view. It must have incredible firepower, an ultra-loyal readership and powerful word of mouth. I will delve into it one day because I find it incredible to see that it has been there for years, assertive, without doing too much. It’s strong!