Guy Hibbert
I've been writing about France as a journalist for many years and now I have found the time to write fiction.
Many people, having read my Paris Postcards short stories, urged me to write a novel. And at last, after three years of writing and editing I'm pleased say it is available now.
The Château of Illusions is a saga of two families and their ownership of a historic petit chateau in rural France. My main character is a strong, independent woman, a reluctant heroine of the French resistance movement. The novel is about her life and loves and her quest for redemption after some tragic events during the war. It is set in France and London from just before WW2 up to the 1980s.
I still enjoy the challenge of writing short stories. They help me improve my craft but I also love creating a glimpse or a snapshop of a life or a moment. I've always been interested in the reputation Paris has as a city of romance and love, and with Paris Postcards I tried to go beyond the superficial attractions, to imagine the diverse range of emotions experienced by characters from different backgrounds and across many different periods of time.
Why am I inspired by France? I first visited the country as a 17 year old, hitchhiking down the west coast, across the Pyrénées and around the Mediterranean coast. The following year I returned with three school friends and drove 3000kms of French country roads in a 1963 Morris Thousand Traveller! I have never forgotten the hospitality of the French people we met on our travels, the glories of the open road and the fabulous scenery. Later in life I had the opportunity to live in France and to write about its diverse culture, history and places to explore via my day job as Editor-in-Chief of France Today magazine.
I grew up in India, Pakistan, Iran, Dominican Republic, Bermuda, Italy and England, so travel is in my blood! I divide my time these days between Bath, England and the south of France. I am currently working on a new volume of short stories set in France and a novel set in Rome.
