In his novels, Maxime Chattam excels in the art of creating suspense… And Prime timehis latest work published on October 30, 2024 by Albin Michel editions is no exception. Faustine Bollaert’s husband tells how an 8 p.m. news becomes the scene of a hostage-taking holding millions of viewers in suspense, and at the same time the reader. As usual, the novelist multiplies the twists and turns and moments of tension to better captivate us, until the final outcome.
“She made me better“: Maxime Chattam reveals to us how his wife, Faustine Bolllaert, transformed him
But if there is one subject on which Maxime Chattam maintains no suspense, it is his private life. The author married presenter Faustine Bollaert in 2012 and together they had two children, Abbie and Peter. And since then, the novelist’s life has been “a strong marriage with children“, as he confided to the microphone ofEurope 1 in November 2023. Maxime Chattam never misses an opportunity to express the love and admiration he feels for the one who shares his life. “This book wouldn’t exist if she wasn’t in my life, that’s for sure and, beyond that, I wouldn’t be the man I am today at 48 if she wasn’t. was not in my life. She made me better, I’m aware of it, and it’s the least I can say“, he confided to Tele-Leisure during an exclusive interview on the occasion of the release of Prime time.
“I was afraid for a long time…“: Maxime Chattam explains why it took him years to write a novel about the world of television
Obviously, while reading Prime timewhich plunges us into the mysteries of the world of television, a question comes to mind: was this theme inspired by his wife? “Yes and no”answers Maxime Chattam. “That is to say that there is the part of the conscious and the unconscious. For a novelist who likes to write thrillers, obviously, a TV set is extremely attractive because you can do so many things there, there are so many options.“The novelist confides that he had wanted to write a book set in the world of television for a very long time, but that he always refused to do so.”I was afraid for a long time that through my words and what I was going to say, people would judge my wife.”he justifies. “I definitely didn’t want us to go in that direction. If one day she has something to say on TV, she’s grown up and she’ll do it herself. She doesn’t need me. I didn’t dare for fear that people would say to themselves: ‘But isn’t it Faustine who thinks that, who says that at home?’ And then at one point, I said to myself that after thirteen years, it was time to get started.” Maxime Chattam also recognizes that there is surely an unconscious element in this approach, from hearing Faustine Bollaert talk about TV and accompanying her on the sets.
“Be careful, if you do this…“: Maxime Chattam tells us why he gave up on his first idea for his new novel
Maxime Chattam also tells us that at the start, he had another idea for a novel, but that he gave it up. “At the beginning, I wanted to tell the story of the life of an animator with all that it implies and there, I realized that I was very influenced by Faustine“, admits the writer before explaining to us: “I really admire my wife. I’ve seen her work in this world for thirteen years. I see the amount of work she puts in, what she takes in, this empathy and kindness that she has which is real. Few people realize the impact it has on her. All these stories, all this involvement, she takes them as a psychologist receives many things except that basically, she is not a psychologist. I wanted to tell this story and at one point, I said to myself: ‘Be careful, if you do this, you are going to make a declaration of love and admiration to your wife, but you are not going to write the book that you plan to write.’ So I went back and that’s why I went with this idea from JT which fit much better with what I wanted to do. So I took on a journalist who presents a news story and that allowed me to go in a direction that seemed more relevant to me for the book.“There is no doubt that, even if he had stuck to his first idea, his novel would have been just as fascinating!
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