ReadingFashionably: Interview with Helena Frith Powell

September 1, 2011 by Fifi Flowers

Helena Frith Powell used to write the French Mistress column in The Sunday Times about living in France. She is a regular contributor to the Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday, Daily Telegraph, the Sunday Telegraph, Tatler Magazine and Harper’s Bazaar.

She is the author of More France Please, we’re British, a book published in November 2004 by Gibson Square Books about her experiences in France. She is also the author of a book about French women called Two Lipsticks and a Lover published in October 2005 by Gibson Square Books. The paperback was published by Penguin in the US in December 2006 under the title All You Need to be Impossibly French. The paperback in the UK was published by Arrow in February 2007. It was also published in Russia, Thailand and China during 2007. It was published in France in March 2008 under the title So Chic!

She is also the author of a memoir called Ciao Bella, published by Gibson Square in October 2006. Her book about ageing called To Hell in High Heels was published by Arrow in April 2008.

Her new book, The Viva Mayr Diet, was published by Harper Collins in May 2009. Her latest book is a novel set in France about the French art of having affairs called Love in a Warm Climate, which was published in March 2011 by Gibson Square.

Helena was educated at Durham University and lived in the Languedoc region of France for eight years. She now lives in Abu Dhabi with her husband Rupert and their three children Olivia, Bea and Leonardo. She is editor of The National’s M magazine. (via HERE)

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Nowwww... time to get to know you even better...

Where are you from?

I was born in Sweden, my mother is Swedish and my father Italian, but brought up in England after my mother married an Englishman when I was two, so I feel English

Tell us your latest news?

My very latest news is that there is someone interested in one of my books, To Hell in High Heels, for a film
When and why did you begin writing?

I wrote my first attempt at a novel as a young girl, it was my real father who encouraged me to write, but it was truly awful, or "shitting" as he called it in his very Italian manner

When did you first consider yourself a writer?

Funnily enough I still sometimes don't consider myself a writer, but I think it was as recently as this year when I was on TV to promote my first novel, Love in a Warm Climate (my other five books have been non-fiction) that I really felt like a writer

What inspired you to write your first book?

The first published book was all about moving to France and was inspired by a column I had on the Sunday Times. But prior to that I had been working away on my memoir which would eventually be published as Ciao Bella

Do you have a specific writing style?

I try to make it humorous and light

How did you come up with the title?

It varies enormously; sometimes I agonise over the title for months, one time I dreamt it (Ciao Bella) and another time my husband came up with a title that was so good (To Hell in High Heels) that I had to write a book to fit it

Is there a message in your novel that you want readers to grasp?

Definitely that it is not so difficult to change the way you look if you make small tweaks and adjustments, we can all be as sexy as Frenchwomen. I would like to send the message that, as Coco Chanel says, "There are no ugly women, just lazy women."

How much of the book is realistic?

All the characters are based on amalgamations of friends and people I know, but the events are more or less fictitious

Are experiences based on someone you know, or events in your own life?

As I said the events are fictitious, although a lot of them are inspired by real people and real lives

What books have most influenced your life most?

Good question...The Great Gatsby is one, I think it is one of the most perfect novels ever, and Wuthering Heights which I fell in love with when I was fifteen. I was also inspired as a teenager by one of our most popular chick-lit writers called Jilly Cooper, and I always said all I wanted to be was a Jilly Cooper, I was never really going to write serious fiction. Although I do find her books a bit obvious nowadays. I also love The Leopard by Lampedusa and Cheri by Colette. Another classic author I adore is Edith Wharton, her novels The House of Mirth and The Age of Innocence are brilliant and her short story Roman Fever is to me the perfect short story

If you had to choose, which writer would you consider a mentor?

That's very difficult. My father (who is also a writer) says you must always have a model when you're writing a book, so I suppose my mentor is whoever my model is for the work I am on. This applies much more to fiction than non-fiction of course, but in my fiction I am aiming for chick lit crossed with Cold Comfort Farm, so maybe just a level above pure chick lit, with lots of humour. If I had to pick one writer, it would probably be Scott Fitzgerald, although he might turn in his grave to hear me say that!

Irene Nemirovsky is definitely one of my mentors, as is Margaret Atwood. Both extremely gifted female writers I admire greatly. Atwood's The Blind Assassin is an incredible book, unforgettable, and as far as Nemirovsky goes, you can pick anything, everything she wrote is splendid.

What book are you reading now?

I just re-read Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier and am now reading The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barberry

Are there any new authors that have grasped your interest?

Lots of them; I loved One Day by David Nicholls, for example, and am really enjoying the Barberry book, very different from my style, more profound and really quirky

What are your current projects?

I am working on a new novel about first love and the effect of finding your first love again several years later.
Name one entity that you feel supported you outside of family members.

Without doubt my publisher, Martin Rynja at Gibson Square books. I started with him, then went off to a Random House imprint, but have gone back to him, he puts in every ounce of energy and commitment he can when publishing a book, he is always in touch and a great help to me

Do you see writing as a career?

Yes, I do, and I would love to be able to just write for a living, although I do enjoy my job.

If you had to do it all over again, would you change anything in your latest book?

Hmmm, not sure, the feedback has been good so far, maybe I would make Sophie have more sex! But sex scenes are so tricky to write, especially as I know my mother-in-law reads my books!

Do you recall how your interest in writing originated?

I can't remember a time when I wasn't interested in writing. I remember as a child (i had a rather alternative childhood) grown-ups would say 'one day dear you'll write a book about all this' and I would smile sweetly but be thinking 'yes I bloody well will, and you'll be in it.'

Can you share a little of your current work with us?

As I said, it is about first love, my working title is Someone Like You. It is in part based on personal experience, I came across my first love recently and was astounded at how it affected me, totally irrational, and I started thinking about this Facebook age and how easy it is for people to get back in touch nowadays. I have been on holiday in Sri Lanka working on it and am really happy with it so far, it is not a first person account like Love in a Warm Climate, but centers on the lives of five main characters and is a 'bigger' novel in some ways as it covers more ground and more story lines. I am really excited about it.

Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing?

I do find description a challenge at times, I really had to work on describing the landscape in Love in a Warm Climate, and was pleased when the Daily Mail called in 'spot on'.

Do you have to travel much concerning your book(s)?

I did a lot for my non-fiction, but not for the novels, yet anyway. For the non-fiction I travelled to Italy, America, all around France and even to Jamaica.

Who designed the covers?

Designer is Jem Butcher, formerly S&amp;amp;amp;S Art Director.

What was the hardest part of writing your book?

Deciding what would happen to Sophie in the end

Did you learn anything from writing your book and what was it?

Yes, I learnt that writing a novel is far more difficult than writing a non-fiction book

Do you have any advice for other writers?

Rewrite - I go back again and again and again tweaking and adding things

Do you have anything specific that you want to say to your readers?

Thank you for all the mails and all the support, and encouragement, I love writing books and as long as you love reading them I will keep at it

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Thank you Helena for giving us an interview... and donating a copy of your new book...