Ditching shame: The Gisèle Pelicot effect
Sexual shame looms large in my novel, X in Provence, set by sheer if harrowing happenstance in Mazan, a village now sadly synonymous with rape. Rai, an ambitious journalist, moves […]
My Mazan: The reality and the fiction
I write this in emotional turmoil. I am struggling, like women the world over, to comprehend the mass rape of Gisèle Pelicot, drugged into unconsciousness by her husband and sexually […]
No snacking please, we’re French
There’s an etiquette to eating in France, which includes when you shouldn’t eat. “Mum, the family I’m staying with doesn’t snack,” my adolescent daughter told me, aghast. “I mean, […]
Couples and kids: The yes-no conundrum
You’ve met the golden one, the mate you reckon could be forever. And how wonderful, he’s into commitment, eager to build a loving life together. But then you hit a […]
Continental shifts and culture shock
Rai, the English adventurer in X in Provence, finds herself facing a new set of cultural phenomena when she moves countries, or rather continents, to be with her lover. Back in Europe from a long stint in Hong Kong, the extent of the culture shock she experiences comes….well, as rather a shock.
Self-esteem: Never Ever Enough
“Love yourself,” my parents used to say to me, “believe in yourself and you can do anything”. A truism worthy of a pedestal deserving of a dais. I grew up recognizing the divinity of these words. And yet… how do you manufacture confidence when you don’t have a stock of it, due to whatever reasons, and there are a multitude.
The zest behind X in Provence
Provence had been simmering in my mind as the setting for a book ever since my travels there, a sandwich stop between career changes. Over time that simmering turned into a certitude.