The Gallic Books Blog

Story of a writer: François Lelord

Author and pyschiatrist François Lelord tells us how he came up with Hector, the globetrotting hero of his modern fables. The third in the series, Hector Finds Time, is out now (buy from belgraviabooks.com for just £4.79 plus p&p).

When authors are asked to explain what made them write their books or come up with a new character, they always want to give worthy reasons. Voltaire might have said he wrote Candide to criticise the Ancien Régime, religious intolerance, Leibniz and utopian ideals in an amusing and entertaining fashion. All of which would be true, but you need only read the book to understand why Voltaire really created Candide: he had fun writing about his adventures! Much more than he must have done working on his epic poems and tragedies, which have become tedious for modern readers, and were no doubt already tedious at the time, to the extent that I wonder if Voltaire himself were not bored writing them.

If you were to ask me why I created Hector and his adventures, I might reply that I wanted to tackle psychological and philosophical themes in an entertaining way; to revive the French tradition of philosophical contes, or fables; to both move and enrich my readers, and so on.

None of this would be untrue exactly, but as a psychiatrist I am generally suspicious of people giving me good reasons for having behaved in one way or another, so I ask them to tell me about the circumstances leading up to their actions.

These were the circumstances: it was winter and I had gone along on a trip to Hong Kong with an art dealer friend of mine (I am not very good at holidays, so I always try to accompany friends who have a purpose). I was meant to be writing a serious book on happiness for my French publisher (my own idea, no less), but every time I sat at my computer and wrote a few lines, I was overwhelmed with indescribable boredom. This book on happiness was making me unhappy. On top of that, I was going through a period of questioning and doubt – Was I really going to carry on practising psychiatry until I could no longer get out of my chair? Would I still be a roving bachelor when the only women interested in me had serious unresolved father issues, if not grandfather issues? My friend sensed something was up and tried to cheer me up by showing me the highlights of the city-state by night, but it was no use. Then one morning while brushing my teeth in a freezing cold bathroom – a remnant of the British colonial era? – Hector was born! I could picture him clearly, younger than me, somewhat naive, full of good intentions - I have a few of those myself – and trying his best to understand the world and help his patients. I knew straight away that telling the story of Hector’s journeys would be a joy, that I would not have to hold his hand but rather it would be he carrying me along on his adventures, drawing of course on my own experiences and those of my patients, as well as dreams and books I had read.

As for the form it took, the conte, I would not dare compare myself to Voltaire, but many readers of the Hector series have urged me to re-read Candide. Doing so alerted me to the deep impression it must have made on me as a boy, and the extent to which it continues to influence me to this day.

So thank you to Voltaire and Hong Kong, Hector’s "parents", and to my readers, who have encouraged me in letting me know I am not the only one entertained by Hector.

 

Freedom Fries and Café Crème

Along with Gaelic Books, we've been confused for Garlic Books in the past. Given the culinary theme of our newest title, this is not quite as silly as it once was. Freedom Fries and Café Crème (available online for £5.49) is a departure for Gallic for two reasons. It’s the first piece of original fiction we’ve published, not in translation but written in English by Jocelyne Rapinac, a French teacher living in London. And it contains recipes.

In the vein of the hugely successful Mexican novel, Like Water for Chocolate, Jocelyne Rapinac’s short stories are transatlantic tales of love lost, found or rejected, accompanied by recipes for many of the dishes mentioned. Rapinac understands how central food is to so many social situations and how much attitudes to food can tell us about people. The recipes she includes reflect the diverse backgrounds and experiences of her characters – alongside French classics, there are recipes for a pie made with Thanksgiving leftovers and a fragrant Turkish-inspired feast, made by a character who delights his colleague with stories of overseas adventures.

While we were preparing the stories for publication, one of the most important tasks was to test all these recipes to ensure the instructions were clear and readers could look forward to delicious results. Whilst I usually work as in-house translator, my previous life as a sub-editor and occasional recipe writer for bbcgoodfood.com was put back in use. I tested half the recipes and a former colleague got on with the rest.

This was shortly before Christmas, so I was able to give some of the products of my testing as presents – little bottles of cranberry liqueur and bittersweet orangettes (candied orange peel). I had to have a couple of attempts at these... The orange strips are to be gently simmered in syrup for an hour and a half and I cheerfully walked off and left them, only to come back and find they had boiled dry. To avoid others making the same mistake, an instruction was added to keep a careful watch and add water if needed. It’s a long process to make them, involving overnight macerating and draining, but worth it – people are amazed at how nice orange peel can taste!

Another unusual recipe I tested was rose jam. Intended to be made when unsprayed, homegrown roses are in full bloom, I was testing in mid-winter: the only roses I could get hold of were flown in from Africa and covered in pesticides. I told the florist what I was intending to do with his beautiful flowers: rip them apart and boil them. He went pale as he snipped off their long stems.

Happily, most of my testing did not entail such wanton destruction. The cakes were a hit with colleagues and customers at Belgravia Books, particularly the Pain d’Epices – the kind of delicately flavoured, not too rich or sweet cake you can keep coming back to – and a very simple Christmas cake made with a jar of mincemeat.

I was back in the kitchen to film the five recipe videos we’ve put on YouTube, and I’ll be cooking again for the launch party (cheesy gougères, punchy tapenade...) in a fortnight. I hope you have as much fun with the recipes as we have.