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With talent, intelligence and empathy – and with knowledge – the Franco-English writer Tatiana de Rosnay tackles the issue of eating disorders in her new novel, We will be better tomorrow. The destinies of two women who are 30 years apart come together by chance when Candice, 28, rescues Dominique, in her late fifties, after an accident. Little by little, their friendship is built and the bonds are woven. But who is the most dented of the two? Who will save whom?
In Paris, on the Place d'Italie, Candice Louradour witnesses an accident. A woman is knocked down by a driver, right in front of her. Instinctively, she rescues him and decides to accompany him to the hospital. This woman in her fifties is called Dominique Marquisan and has no family.
As the days go by, the two women get to know each other. Dominique shares her passion for the texts of Émile Zola, in which she finds courage and inspiration. Candice talks about her recently deceased father and the dark secrets left behind.
The two become inseparable. But can the friendship last? Isn't there a danger in confiding in a stranger? Or is this not an opportunity to overcome great difficulties and find hope?
An intimate novel
Tatiana de Rosnay explains, in an interview, that this new novel is the most personal that she has written since it reports on a difficult problem that she herself has overcome: eating disorders (ED).
“You might think Dominique is evil and scary, but she's the one who will end up saving Candice's life. In every sense of the term. Candice is a very fragile person,” she says.
At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Tatiana de Rosnay thought she was writing a thriller, a story of influence, but realized while writing that it was not that at all. A first surprise awaited him. “A famous writer, whom I adore, came knocking at my writing door: Émile Zola. He almost broke into this book.
She also decided to put some “extremely personal” elements into this book, which she had never talked about. “I gave my young heroine a very personal background. Something that happened to me and weighed a lot on my life. And that was not planned at all.
“I realized that I was not writing a thriller at all, even if there is the tension of a thriller. I put in this book such intimate things… it's the first time that I've opened up like this. »
In the novel, she talks about eating disorders, such as anorexia and bulimia. “Candice suffers from a silent ailment: ED. Eating disorders have reportedly skyrocketed during the pandemic, all over the world.”
Candice suffers from anorexia, bulimia, hyperphagia, and afterwards, makes herself vomit. “It's something that happened to me for many years. I could never talk about it. I got out of it not too long ago and it was a bit of a shock for my family to find out. I hid it very well. »
Talking about it
Since the release of the book, she says she is touched and surprised by the number of people with eating disorders who come to talk to him about it or send him letters about it.
Discussing with his readers, in dedications, does him good. “Now we can get help, there are structures that exist. I'm not a doctor, so I don't have any other advice, other than to talk about it. You absolutely have to find help and not keep it to yourself, which is what I had done. You have to find the courage to talk about it, to put these secrets into words. »
- Tatiana de Rosnay is a Franco-English writer.
- She has published 14 novels translated in about forty countries.
- Several have been adapted for film.
- His website: tatianaderosnay.com
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“The squeal of the brakes, the crash of the fall, the screams of horror. It was dark, it was hard to see, but onlookers had immediately started filming with their cell phones, planted there, instead of helping. Candice approached the body on the ground, distinguished scattered blond hair, blood, a pointed white face. Someone shouted, “She's dead!” The driver of the car was sobbing and muttering that he hadn't seen anything; the crowd crowded around this unknown expanse at its full length, but no one comforted it. Candice knelt on the wet pavement.
— Do you hear me, lady?
The victim must have been in his fifties or older, with huge black eyes.
— Yes, she told him, her voice clear. I hear you.”