Tata | The Valérie Perrin phenomenon

Since his first novel The forgotten ones of Sunday, published in 2015, Valérie Perrin’s books sell by the millions around the world. Tatahis fourth title, is already at the top of sales. No wonder, because this breathtaking story of more than 600 pages is devourable! Interview with this successful French author whose husband, filmmaker Claude Lelouch, dreams of introducing her to Quebec, she confides.

When the book Tata begins, Colette, a woman without history, dies a second time, because Agnès, her niece, had already buried her three years earlier. It is then that a real investigation begins. Agnès, a successful director, will therefore return to Gueugnon, a small town in Burgundy, where she will find the cassettes left by her aunt who recount her life.

It is an investigation to understand why a person makes people believe that they have been dead for three years, how they organize this disappearance and who is buried in their place. It is also a quest for identity about our roots, understanding where we come from. Colette is single with no children, a slightly old-fashioned spinster, but we realize that she had a very rich inner life. I wanted it to be a niece telling about her aunt, hence the title Tata. She discovers things about her aunt as she goes along, at the same time as the reader.

While reading Tata, is that dit that we don’t really know our family.

There are a lot of things we don’t know about our friends, our family. There are secrets in families that we hide for different reasons, but they can be terrible. There are consequences to silence. Do you have to wait until you die for things to be said? Should we leave cassettes with the story of our life because we didn’t have the strength to tell it during our lifetime? The novel asks these questions.

The town of Gueugnon, France, takes center stage in the book. Is that where you come from?

Yes. Since my first novel, everything has happened in Burgundy. This time, I absolutely wanted to name the town, because there is this steel factory which is very important for the community. There is also a historical sporting event linked to Gueugnon as well as to Colette, my main character, which takes place at the Stade de France, in 2000. The French football league cup [soccer] was won by the small Gueugnon team against the immense Paris Saint-Germain!

Your characters are very endearing. Is this the secret to your success?

My readers tell me that my novels and my characters resonate with their own lives. The main characters in my novels are people with whom we can identify and who can also be friends, brothers, sisters, neighbors, people we know.

How do you live with success?

I experience it like a fairy tale. It’s magical. Tata is already at the top of sales, I feel that I am eagerly awaited, it’s a lot of pressure, because I tell myself that I must not disappoint the people who are waiting for my books. We have to give them a great story. I felt this pressure to Threethe novel that followed Change the flower water. I said to myself, but how am I going to measure up? I’m already thinking about the next one, I’m building it in my head. I have the feeling that I am going further in what I want to tell, and as long as I have this momentum, I will continue.

It’s Jean-Pierre Jeunet (The fabulous destiny of Amélie Poulain) who will realize Change the flower water ?

He finished the adaptation, he wrote the screenplay, he is in casting and he will be ready to shoot in 2025. It is Jean-Pierre Jeunet who chooses the actors. He loves this book, and I have complete confidence in him. It’s his story now, it belongs to him.

Your writing is also very cinematic.

Yes. There are a lot of dialogues, it’s because I come from cinema. I wrote screenplays with Claude Lelouch, my husband, and I have a very visual memory. When I write, I think in cinema scenes, even if I have no desire to make films, I have this filmmaker’s look.

You bought a house in Burgundy and, like your character Agnès, are you rediscovering the places of your childhood?

Yes. I left Gueugnon in 1986, I was 19 years old and I told myself that I would never go back to live there. I went there to see my parents, but I could never imagine that one day I would buy a house to live there! And that’s what happened three years ago. COVID made us rethink our lives, our priorities, and I told myself that Burgundy brought me luck, that my novels take place there. This love must be returned, there must be reciprocity. I found the house of my dreams. As soon as I walked in, it was obvious, it was my home. I share my life between Paris and Normandy, because my husband has had a house there since A man and a womanand he is very attached to it, so we move around a lot, but I love Burgundy.