Ouvre ton jeu avec Marie-Claude Barrette - Le MarieClub en balado | Le succès de l'autrice Mélissa Da Costa

Episode Date: April 23, 2025

La réputation de Mélissa Da Costa n'est plus à faire: c'est une autrice réputée de best-sellers. En tête des meilleures ventes en France, elle conquiert également un public croissant au Québec.Marie-Claude s'entretient avec elle pour parler non seulement de son parcours, mais également de son nouveau livre à succès Tenir Debout, qui explore les défis d’un couple face à l’adversité.🔗 Pour un accès illimité à tout le contenu du MarieClub, rendez-vous sur le marie-claude.com. Abonnez-vous pour ne rien manquer des prochaines entrevues exclusives. Activez la cloche pour être alerté des nouvelles vidéos! Rejoignez le Marie-Club et découvrez du contenu inédit chaque mois.

Hello everyone, I'm very happy to be here today because we don't often receive authors from abroad. We have always privileged Quebec and Quebec authors, but now we have decided to take advantage of the coming of our artist that I love, who has now sold three million books. She is currently publishing her eighth book. She is here, among other things, to meet her amateurs and amateurs at the Book Salon of Montreal. And she is here to stand up for this book, but we're going to talk about a lot more than that. So, welcome Melissa da Costa. Thank you.

It's really a pleasure. This is the first time on the continent that you are just landing from the plane. That's right. And how is it? Are you excited to meet for the first time your Quebec readers and readers at the book fair? Yes, yes, yes. I wonder if I have a lot of readers or readers, because in France now I know I have a certain number of readers and readers, but when we change countries we think that maybe there won't be many people at the meeting. We'll see. Imagine that we arrive at the kiosk and there's nobody, no, but that won't happen.

I can already imagine the line because we have to say that this book here, All the Blue in the Sky, it's a book, in fact, it's the first one you published. Yes, it's the first one. And this one, it's easy to recognize when someone reads it, but here we talked a lot about this book. So, it's for sure that there will be signatures, but I'm not worried at all about that. And the book show, in addition, here, it's very warm. It's very...

You know, but I was thinking about that for a singer, for example, or a singer, he won't see his audience intimately like a book store. He will arrive on stage, will he sell tickets or not? Of course, the book, do we sell books or not? But at the same time, the book store is also a place to sell books. But it's a contact that is privileged and very intimate at the same time. Yes, yes, yes, completely. I had already thought about it, too, to tell myself,

here, the actors, the singers, don't have the chance to really exchange, and really intimately, in addition, with the readers, because the theme of my novels is, in general, drama, quite intimate things, illness, mourning, well, right away, we are in quite personal discussions with the readers. Yes, because by deposing these stories, it interrupts them. So do you tell life stories? Yes, well, I think it's the common point of all my novels.

These are life stories, paths, paths of reconstruction, resilience, and it always echoes in one way or another among readers. Well, standing up there, you know, when I started reading it, I didn't know what the context was exactly. And just like the others, I started looking for myself because I had three fractures in the spine, two fragments that are three millimeters from the spinal cord. So as soon as it touches, if it happened, I would realize. And not long ago, less than a year ago, it almost happened to me because I had a fall, and for 24 hours we were afraid that the swelling would make it touch. And I didn't think about that book would make me realize

how serious it is when it touches, because the character, François, he, it, it will touch. And at that moment, he paralyses. So it's this story that is a tragedy in an incredible life, an actor who has the wind in his sails, a motorcycle accident, finally a paraplegic. Yes. And how did this birth, the birth of this story, come about?

Because it's still serious in a life. There are a lot of consequences. The idea of writing about the disability, the paraplegia, and the couple came to me when I was writing my previous novel, called Les Douleurs Fantômes. I was working on it again because it was going to be released in France. We already had a couple, Tim and Anton, two men who were in a couple. And Anton had had a serious ski accident and he had just spent three years in the re-education center. He still had his wheelchair rolling and he was slowly starting to walk again.

And we already had the premises of what it implied in the couple, this huge rage that Anton had, the guilt of his partner who was the tooth, and who couldn't take it anymore, but who couldn't swallow it. So we already had all these elements. But it was only two characters among a whole group of friends. And I read it again and I said to myself, but it's a subject in itself, that deserves a novel in itself. How a couple stands up to this kind de handicap, donc un handicap physique, qui impacte les gens mais pas seulement, parce qu'on réalise quand on gratte un petit peu le sujet, que ça impacte beaucoup, beaucoup d'autres choses physiquement, mentalement, aussi émotionnellement.

Et j'ai voulu faire encore plus difficile, j'ai choisi un couple qui venait de se rencontrer, qui était encore was still in a phase of discovery, of passion, where everything was beautiful, all pink. A couple a little bit bankal because they are legitimate. François, this adult actor, is still married at the beginning of the novel. In any case, he just announced to his wife who is about to move in with the one who was his mistress. So it's a couple that is extremely fragile, based only on almost the carnal relationships,

seduction, the game of seduction. And then it's a man who has a job entirely centered on the image, all his life rests on his image, on his presence. And so it's even more difficult in these cases. Yes, and there is still a malaise when at the hospital, Isabelle, who is still his wife, meets Leo.

Leo is not well. Because we understand, we begin to understand that... Because at the beginning we say, well, maybe it's been a long time and suddenly, oh no, no, okay, these things are still in his house and they have to move in the background a few days after the accident, they have to move together a few days after the accident. They have to move together a few days after the accident. So in the context of life, she is younger too? She is much younger, yes. She is half her age. She is almost 24 years old. He is 42 years old. And yes, like all the dramas, he hits at an unexpected moment.

And François is still living with his ex-wife. The accident happens and the doctors only warn the one who is on the paper and his wife. So there is also this whole issue of how to find your place as a partner when you are not yet legitimate. Yes, and we are not recognized by the system. No, but that's already this evening, it's really interesting, it's well detailed. Like all the stages too. I think that's for sure, you probably have a lot of comments already, but it's going to echo with several people, because I think we don't talk about that. We don't talk about all these steps that are not so...

I mean, we don't read that with a smile. We say, if it happened to us, I mean, when you lose your autonomy, you're afraid of losing everything, you depend on others. That's how you feel at the beginning, obviously. You have to relearn. You have to see your life completely differently from that moment on. And it's so well detailed. I tell myself, someone who has been through that must say, finally, we describe my reality, and we are not embellishing it.

No, no, that was not the goal, yes. Because you talked to someone who has been through that too. Yes, so yes, that was a prerequisite. When I started this novel, I said to myself, someone who went through that too. Yes, so yes, that was a prerequisite. When I started this novel, I thought, be careful, we can't say anything. It's an extremely sensitive subject, I'm valid, I can't say anything about the handicap.

So I started with medical documentation, first, a book by a doctor who works in a re-education center with medullary injuries and who also had the second sexologist cap to accompany in the life of a couple, the intimate life, procreation. So I worked a lot, I took my little notes, but that wasn't enough.

I felt that I also lacked flesh, experience, intimacy. And so I went to the research for testimonials. And so, in the course of internet research, I discovered the profile of Yann on social media. He's a young French man of about thirty years who had had an accident in traffic. And it had been three years at the time

that he was learning to live differently. So I sent him a message, he agreed to answer my questions, and there is a dialogue that has been tied all along the writing, to be as close to their reality. And then at the end, I also had a scientific re-reading from another neurologist doctor at the re-education center, and who pointed out everything that was correct or a little less accurate from a medical point of view. So that's what makes this reading interesting.

That's what makes it the quality of this reading. And did Yann give his impression after reading the novel? Yes, he put a lot of time into it time because Yann is not a great reader. And he is a great poet. So the first person who read it was his partner Pauline, who at first was a little bit in the background of our discussions. And then she was listening. We communicated a lot through vocal notes.

And so she was behind, she was listening. And then little by little she said to him, on communiqués beaucoup par des notes vocales. Et donc elle était derrière, elle tendait l'oreille, et puis petit à petit elle lui disait, ah tu peux rajouter ça, tu lui as pas parlé de ça. Et puis petit à petit elle s'est greffée à nos discussions. Et donc la première fois que je les ai rencontrées, je les ai rencontrées tous les deux, et je leur ai remis mon manuscrit qui était fraîchement imprimé. Et c'est elle qui l'a lu en premier,

et Yann l'a lu lui, il n'y a pas si ago, just before the release. And they got together a lot in there. Both Yann as a wounded person, as a chairperson, and as much as Pauline as a dentist. In fact, she found a lot of things in her role as a dentist, and in the suffering that we can also have as companions. Yes, because there is a dark side to standing up, because it's a difficult passage between a life, the life before and the life after,

and there is hope in that book. Yes. But we see that the ups and downs, we go back and forth, it's part of rehabilitation too. And indeed, in your novels, it's still, we always find that, this need to reposition oneself in one's own life, and to make sure that others must reposition themselves, to look at their lives from another angle.

And that's still a big job, I think, for an author, to make sure to see the life of the character completely again. Yes. In every angle. It's not linear. No. I mean, sometimes we can live something,

but we continue. But then we stop and we have to reposition ourselves. We're forced to. And why do we reposition ourselves? And where do we want to go? And that's what I think for the reader, we question ourselves. Earlier, I was talking about the blue sky, which can sometimes seem like a story, it's a beautiful love story, but it's much more than that.

I was telling myself, stop waiting. Don't wait to have a diagnosis, no matter how old you are, do what you used to do. Don't say, I retired when I was 60. It's a young man who learns that there is the former Alzheimer's. And now everything has to happen. He also realizes that he was on the side of his life. Completely. Yes, I think it's one of the common points of all my novels.

In fact, each time there is a drama. Whether it's a big, big drama like To Hold You or All the Blue Sky, or sometimes the drama is a love break, something less fatal, but it is the engine that will force my characters to change exactly what you said, their perception of life and to listen finally. Sometimes we need that, sometimes. And to see the impact in the loved ones too. And that's not at all neglected.

And I have the impression that the work you do precisely to understand what's going on, that's your strength. There's like a background of psychologist through all that. Would that have tempted you to be a psychologist? Well, yes, yes, yes. For years, I wanted to become a psychologist. During my entire college and high school, I intended to become a psychologist.

I don't know how it is in France, but in France it is a very popular sector. There are a lot of students, everyone wants to do psychology, and there are not many jobs in the end. So I was a little bit convinced by my teachers to go in a slightly easier way, in any case with more jobs. But my interest, my curiosity is based on psychology, of course.

It's strange because, and I'm an orienteur, I wanted to go into psychology. It's true. Yes, absolutely. He told me, no, you have too many good grades in science and mathematics. Ah, well, that's it. So I went into economic science. Exactly the same, economy, management.

For real? Yes. Oh, but that's funny, for example. And finally, we still get to the human. Yes. You know, I put a digital platform, a digital community in place, and the theme is the human in all its states. It's the human that's interesting. And we feel this love of the human

through everything that is written. And that's what really appealed to me. And I wondered, what is the literal hygiene? Because here we only have three books. Later we'll talk a little bit about that one. But this is the eighth, and I imagine there are other things that have been written too. But how do we manage to write so much? What is the discipline behind that?

I think I like to write so much that it's not a constraint for me. It's barely at work. In any case, I don't live writing as a job. And so, I write as soon as I can. As soon as I have half an hour in a train, as soon as I have a little one hour nap during the children's nap, for example. I don't ask myself the question, I write because it's my pleasure and my passion above all. So the laptop, the laptop is a bit everywhere. It walks around in all the rooms of the house, the laptop.

And is it always, for example, when you write, is it always the same story where there are two or three at the same time? And you know, sometimes when I read, I have several books, so I'm going to choose which one suits me that day. So as a reader, I can also read several books, but no, when I write a novel, it takes away all my thoughts, all my energy, and so I only write one novel at a time. It lasts, in general, I'm always around six, seven months of writing. I don't do it on purpose, but when I ask the last word, I say to myself,

well, when did I start it? And I still have, in general, seven months of writing. And it's crazy, it's amazing. But it's seven months with my characters all the time, all the time. That is to say that if I wake up at night, hop, I get back into my plot, where I was already. I get up in the morning, it's going to be part of my first thoughts, my characters, they're still there. Does it change your mood?

Always positive, in any case, they're always there. And that's what I was saying the other day, it's a little bit like knowing that I'm going to find them. It's like I had a lover and knowing that in a few hours I'll be able to go and find him. So it changes my mood positively. What does the twin say about that? He's going to. But it's living several lives at the same time.

It's living several lives, yes. The life of a man too. Ah yes, of a man, of an old lady, of a child, everything is possible. Is that existent? Completely. Ah, it's super exciting, yes. So it allows you to observe everyone too, and to take a little bit of this person and to make him or her see through the characters. So I imagine there are people of influence.

There are people you meet who can become a character. So it's never been that direct. I think that, mind you, I'm picking up a lot of little things in my encounters, but it's unconsciously. After that, it will be mixed with other ideas, other traits of character. So I think that unconsciously, I'm picking up around me. But you really have to go and analyze everything. I myself am not always conscious. But it's fascinating to live with these characters.

Is there a mourning when the last word is written? Yes. What I usually do is I let them rest for 10 days, 2 weeks, 3 weeks maximum. But they're still there, I think about them again. After 2-3 weeks, I take the novel from the beginning and I do a kind of very quick re-reading in a few days. So it's a way to say goodbye to them. And it's also a way to have a real reading view on the novel. Because in fact, when you write for seven months, you lose a little bit of the thread, I think.

You can lose little things from the personality of the character, the thread of the story. We can have forgotten elements from the past that could impact the end, for example. So when I do a very quick re-reading, it allows me to harmonize the different chapters a little better, to rewrite certain passages because we lost sight of an atmosphere. When you have such a powerful success, the 3 million copies sold in a few years, it's incredible. It's the beginning of a long road of writing. Is there a pressure that is slowly installing, where each next one must be better than the previous one? No. There could be pressure. I don't put any pressure on the result in terms of sales figures,

because I realize that some novels sell much better. There are subjects that are more popular than others, maybe. And sometimes we don't know why. I have some of my novels that I think... Well, not better, because I love them all, and I wrote them all because I thought they were good, but that I find more interesting or deeper, or where I tell myself we shouldn't talk about them anymore.

And then it's not the one that will take, it's going to be another one that is a rather youthful novel, because there are two of my novels that have been published, which were novels that I had written when I was younger, before All Blue Sky. And so I realize that there is no logic, and that I can have the impression of writing the best book of my career, and it may be the one that will work the least. So here, I have no expectation of results. I write first what makes me vibrate myself, because I have the impression that anyway

everything I'm going to put, everything I feel during writing, the reader feels it, and that if the subject makes me vibrate, even if it's a subject on which the reader would not have gone at all, but if I put my guts into it, he gets the reader involved too. I really have the impression that something is going on in this order. So I really try not to put myself under pressure, not to rewrite. The risk when you start to have success is to say to yourself, I know what works, the readers love all the blue in the sky, it's the one that sold the most.

I'm going to do a little bit of a road trip again, or talk about illness, or redo a love story, because we were on a love story. And I don't want to lock myself in there, because I'm afraid of doing the retelling. But if, for example, there was like a moment of saying, okay, I imagine, maybe not in there, but I imagine a sequel, you could still listen to yourself. If I wanted to. Yes, but that is to say Beyond what the reader can think, I think it's your instinct.

If it's my instinct, I listen. It's not because Ren asks, it's the instinct. It's the instinct. Let's go. I'm going to the instinct. But the instinct guides me. That's important, his instinct. Because I don't have the book, the double.

We are completely elsewhere. don't have the book, the double, but we are completely elsewhere. We could have difficulty, I think, from the start, to guess who wrote it. Oh yes? Well, in the sense that it's very different from the others. And I like to be unconcerned, precisely, not to have the impression of reading a sequel, you know, like, here's what it looks like, and it will always be a little bit of stories with different characters, but there we are still disappointed. So that's also, I imagine, for an author like you, it's a joy to dive into universes as different. Oh yes, it's grisly.

Which brings, but I imagine they will touch different clients too. Yes, yes, yes. Well, it's the book I was talking about earlier, the double for me, it should have a much greater retentance than what it had. It's the one I'm most proud of, maybe, not that I'm not proud of the others, but because in terms of research, I did a huge job. It's an unexplored territory too. Yes, I come to explore subjects that are still very taboo. Drugs, sexuality in the libertine environment, and even the black romanticism in which the novel bathes.

It is very, very little known, very little studied. But that doesn't mean he won't know it. No, no. Maybe it will happen a little later. And he still has his success. Yes, because I think literature also looks like music in the sense that sometimes we discover a group a little later. Yes, that's true. By one of the songs and suddenly we want to see what this musical approach is. And then we will discover the artist.

And I have the impression, because it's very prolific as a production at the same time, in a few years, you give us a lot. It's true. It's a lot of reading. So I have the impression that someone who, the front door, for some, will be all the blue of the sky, will have the curiosity to go read. But that's it, an author, I think it's a track that we leave forever. So after that, it will live, because it's true that sometimes when it comes out,

we say, but it's now, but there are books that have crossed the time. And there are others that have walked, and then we never heard of them again. I think that the dubbing could be read more easily in the CEGEP, at the university. It could be a book to analyze. It's something,, in my opinion, will have a pedagogical life. Ah, maybe. We'll wish for it. I also like to talk about the beginning of writing, because often, I've received authors or authors, we always wondered,

yes, but I like, comments, I would also like to write, do you know of any publishing houses? Do you think a tell could remind me? And I always tell people, and I'll let you answer later, but I tell them, because I wrote a story, it's first we write it for ourselves. And then we offer it, once it's offered, but then we give it, and this book, this story,

it no longer belongs to us in the sense that we are in the process of sharing it. But you have to write it for yourself first before looking for a publishing house. And in your case, how did the writing start? Exactly this way. I started writing when I started learning how to write, so it goes back very, very far. I started first, so around the age of 7, when I mastered the assembly of words to make sentences. I went back from school and I played at inventing sentences. I thought it was magic. I had the impression of having a little magic wand

and I made another parallel universe appear in which exactly what I wanted was happening. Everything was possible! Everything was possible! So it was sentences, and then I continued writing little poems, and then stories that I illustrated with drawings. And then from primary school, so around 8-9 years old, I started writing the beginning of novels, and it never stopped. And what did the parents say? A child who starts writing a novel at 8 or 9 years old,

do we say, well, we have a genius among us? They were already surprised because it's not something that is common at all in my family. No one dates writing very well, at least at home. And then it made them smile, they encouraged me. But since I didn't want them to read, I didn't want anyone to read, I really wrote for myself. In this case, that's it.

So my mother was quite frustrated because she said to me, show me, they spend hours and hours, no no. And it took years and years before I agreed to be read, and I had to finish a whole novel. I was 25 years old and I was coming back from another one. And then, as it was finished, as it was a successful project,

I was satisfied, I agreed to be read. But it wasn't put in an editing house at that time? No. I never thought I could be spotted by an editing house. Because for me, it was a very closed, very elitist world. And it was a world I thought only worked through contacts. We had contacts or we didn't have contacts, and I didn't have any contacts. So I had put it on the internet, on the Amazon platform, because there was a time when

some authors were spotted by Amazon, but at the time I posted it, not much happened. But as I was writing for myself first of all, I continued, I wrote the rest of the Ghostbusters that I posted on Amazon, but I almost didn't talk about it because I understood that by this bias I would not get anywhere. And then I continued to write because that's what was making me vibrate, so I wrote but I hardly talked about it because I understood that by this bias I would not achieve anything. And then I continued to write because that's what was making me vibrate, so I wrote the whole Blue Sky. And then I discovered other platforms that Amazon,

and therefore the platform monbestseller.com on which I posted this novel. And then everything went crazy in five weeks. I had a flurry of very very positive commentary on Flory Lège. The book was listed among the most downloaded novels. So it was a site where I put it up for free. But that's like a dream. Oh yes, it's a dream. When it happens.

Yes! It happened on the 3rd. On the 3rd, that's right. Because you are all young, the first one was 25 years old. So it's only been a few years. And then, how did you choose a publishing house? I didn't specifically choose, in fact, it's a publishing house that came to me through the platform.

It was a small Parisian publishing house that published, I don't know, barely a dozen novels per year, but they offered me a contract, and so, well, we don't accept a house of editing contract. And then, afterwards, I was spotted by Albin Michel, following the success I met with all the blue-and-white. So we're in... Something else. We're among the big ones.

What does your family say about this now that you are officially a Van writer and recognized above all? Well, they are very proud. They are very, very proud. They are behind me to support me. And then I think it will give them a little faith in society and in what we call the social elevator, the possibility to rise finally and to access these jobs that make my compensations reserved for an intellectual elite, a little bit rich dream. Well, I come from a place that is quite modest, and so so nobody thought that was possible.

And actually, to see that, I think it gives a lot of hope to my family, to my relatives, and then to a lot of people, actually. Young readers who follow me, who have dreams in their heads, but who say that it's not for them. And in addition, Melissa, what is really interesting is that there's a trust of readers and readers. I think I saw on TikTok or Instagram, when the book was released, we saw, I read it between my hands, I'm looking forward to it, I'm looking forward to it. And when we manage to make these readers vibrate in this way,

that's incredible fidelity. That's what every person who writes is looking for, to create this expectation, this surprise, what will await me each time? And that's where I think it allows you to bring us to unexpected places, and with confidence, we will follow you. Well, it's because I have this confidence that I can afford it too.

And it's because I allow myself to have confidence. And you dare to provoke, too, it doesn't scare you? To provoke the reader or the writer? No, no, no. In fact, as I write, even today, I write mainly for myself. I want to give myself pleasure, surprise myself, make me vibrate with themes, maybe a little more taboo, or by scratching a little bit unknown universes.

Well, that's why I take risks, first for my pleasure, and then by telling myself, come on, there's a little trust pact with my electorate, so it should do it. So without being afraid of losing the team. And it's always the danger of success. It's losing what we have. When we have nothing, we're not afraid. Yes, that's for sure. It's when we... when the expectations of the house are... say, we don't care. And at the same time, what I find extraordinary in what you do is that you can travel the world now.

Yes! You have an incredible travel card. This book, if I'm not mistaken, in all the blue of the sky, it will be a series or a film. It's a film. It's a film and it's already... has it started? I know the actors already... It's already shot. It's already shot! I saw the film last week.

And then? So it's not out yet. No, but what's the impression? I already saw the movie last week. And then? So it didn't come out. No, but what's the impression? It's incredible. It's incredible. I decided to give up and leave the baby. And at the same time, when you give up your rights,

in general, producers, screenwriters, don't really want to have the author in the role who wants to put his little foot, who wants to correct the dialogues. So at the same time, I wasn't asked a lot, but I had the right to make returns, I could read the script. But I decided to let go and let them work a little bit quietly, while having this little fear of telling me what they're going to do, will it work?

I had read the script, but as long as it's not on screen, we don't realize there are things in the script where I was saying that it can't work. And then, what does it work with? With the director's dough, the ways of filming, the music,

and then especially the the actor's talent. And emotions. And emotions, and everything is there, actually. So it's at the height of your expectations? Yes, completely. And that, well, it will also be re-launched for several... Yes, surely. It's a swing, so there will still be new people who will add to it.

Surely, yes, that's true. And this book also has a comic book. Yes, absolutely. It has a lot of meaning, this story. This story is, I think, a beautiful gateway to your universe. This book, and you know, already the cover is attractive, all that, but we understand because standing up, I find that this book is fascinating for, you know, I did shows for years to help people, to talk about things that we don't talk about,

that we don't necessarily have a specialist, so always with a specialist and people that we already know, public figures who live different problems, but from different angles, so that everyone can recognize themselves somewhere. And I find that there is something in common. Among other things, in this book, I tell myself, we learn how it goes in the hospital, how it goes in rehabilitation, when we come home. Can we have a child? Does life stop? How can we live again? Is there hope? And for the other, we learn a lot. So it's really a force.

So there's no end to it. I mean, there are plenty of subjects. It's endless when you see, when you approach the human in this way. It's endless. I often have the question, but you're not afraid of not having any ideas, inspiration, but it's impossible. It's impossible. It's rich human.

No, no, no, it's impossible because when we take it this way, when you look at each of the books, we really see the direction in each of your books. That's what I like, it's not soft. We know where it's going, we don't know how it's going to happen, which way, but ah, okay, we're going to dig, we know we're going to dig. And I like the rigor, and we feel the rigor in what is written. And the last one, which I couldn is that UNICEF was looking for,

asking you if you had a book in bank to make a pocketbook where the funds would go directly to UNICEF. And you have this book in your boxes. Yes, it's a book I wrote when I was born. It's a short book, I had to write it in 2-3 months, if I'm not mistaken, with the impulse of everything you discover when you become a mother and all the insights you can have.

I was someone who wasn't particularly afraid of dying. Death didn't scare me. I didn't think about it at all on a daily basis. And when I thought about it, I wasn't scared of it. And then I became a mom. And then it wasn't just, well, I die, I die. Then I said to myself, but blood. But nothing can happen to me anymore. It's over. This option is no longer possible. I said, but, no, but nothing can happen to me anymore.

It's over. This option is no longer possible. And if it had to happen to me, how do I do it? It's a loss of patience. What I felt as soon as they gave me my daughter, I was the same. I said, OK, I can't die anymore. I had never been afraid of, you know, on a plane,

when the plane starts to shake, when there is a turbulence, and then there was no more turbulence, it was not possible. It's not possible anymore. It's true that it comes to us to fix this loss of awareness. So it's part of it. So it's part of it. I remember I was giving him his bibrons, and we were looking at each other in the eyes. And I saw the confidence and total abandonment in his eyes.

And I was thinking, if I had to leave, if a mother learns that she has to leave, if we announce the diagnosis to her, we've tried everything, we can't do anything anymore. How? How do we prepare a little bit of the most total carelessness for that? It's unimaginable. And so that's where the novel began to be born. And this story began to be born from a mother who who will wrap this awful truth in a kind of wonderful little tale. She will tell her son that she must leave for a secret mission

on Uranus to draw the sky, the stars, the sun, the clouds, the rainbow, everything that is more beautiful. And at the same time, it's a wonderful lie in the form of a little tale. At the same time, it's just a metaphor of death since it doesn't hide everything. She tells him that she will not come back, that he will not be able to join her, that he will be able to talk to her, maybe she will hear, but she will not be able to answer. So she may be able to speak to her, maybe she will hear her, but she will not be able to answer us. So at the same time, it's a lie, I don't really know that.

Isn't it another way to talk about death? Yes, because we don't know what death is either. We don't know what it is, but it's so well written. It's really very, very beautiful. The Star Maker, it must still be said that you have put following the edition of this book, an imposing check to UNICEF. I think we should remember it.

If I remember correctly, it was 400,000 euros. Yes, for the last year. So I hope we have the same amount this year. So for one year... It was released in June, so it was from... If I'm not mistaken, it was from June to the end of December last year. Yes, that's it. It was only for half a year. It's half a year, 400,000 euros.

So I have good hope that we will put the same amount this year, or even more. It's incredible to write a book like that, which was in the boxes, and all of a sudden it will help as many children. Yes. So that's joining the useful... well, in fact, it's going to help how many children? Yes. So that's joining the usefulness. In fact, it's doing useful work. Yes. And that's making the difference. It's important to make the difference.

Completely. When we love the human being. So writing brings that. I wish you the best of the book shows. Thank you. But I know that people here are going to be very, very happy. And after that, do you do the... Have you done like the Tour de l'Europe?

Because it's like, you know, in the end Because it's like a new life, I imagine, that makes living become famous too. Yes, yes. There is a notion of celebrity. There is a notion of celebrity that lasts the time of literary events. And then, when we leave the living room, in general, the living room of the book, we fall back into a rather quiet anonymity. But that's good!

So it's perfect. It's perfect. Well, thank you very much, Melissa D'Acassa, for stopping by our studios. And in any case, thank you to the members for being there. The last book is this one, Hold Up. But if you go see Melissa D'Acassa, all the books will be released. And really, it's worth stopping at these great novels. Thank you, thank you to everyone.