LANGUEDOC & PROVENCE SUN

I don’t know what I expected when I went to meet Danielle and her Bulgarian husband, Nikolai at their home in a small, rural village not far from Montpellier, but the youthful pair who met me could have been a couple of undergraduates home for vacation rather than the parents of a ten and a seven year old. Their manner and courtesy seemed to mirror their surroundings; time didn’t matter. And yet here are two highly successful writers in their thirties, both with an unusual past, who have chosen the south of France to make a life for themselves and their young family.

LS: What made you choose this region?

D: Well, it’s a complicated story. Although I grew up in Wisconsin I have an almost chemical rejection about living in the USA. I knew I wanted to live near the Mediterranean.

LS With a name like Trussoni you must have Italian origins?

D Yes, my father’s family comes from Lake Como. We first thought of moving to Italy.

LS What made you change your mind?

D A friend in Perpignan introduced us to the area. Something about this part of the world made me feel immediately at home.

LS Have you always liked books?

D By the age of six, I was an obsessive reader. I always knew I would write one day. I began writing short stories at high school.

LS Your first book Falling Through The Earth: A Memoir was on the New York Times top ten list of books in 2006. It seems unusual for someone young to begin with a memoir.

D I began writing it as novel. Over a period of 10 years I tried various formats which didn’t work. So I wrote it again as a memoir.

LS How would you describe it?

D It’s a portrait of my father who was a Vietnam War-Veteran, a Tunnel rat. It’s the story of a man re-living his life with all its repercussions; how his coming back affected me and my family. It’s really a metaphor for what war does to a family.

LS Your husband Nikolai Grozni was a one-time Buddhist monk who speaks Tibetan and who writes fiction and non-fiction. Where did you meet?

D We met at a writing conference in the States.

LS Seven publishing houses vied for the rights of Angelology*. It is to be translated in over thirty languages. How long did it take to write?

D Three years. I had no one concrete plan but a number of ideas which I built into a novel.

LS What were they?

D I had the character of Evangeline. I had visited the Devil’s Throat Cave which Bulgarians believe to be the entrance through which Orpheus entered the Underworld. I spent a week in a convent in USA which was full of images of angels. Its library had shelves of books on them. I began to read Genesis 6 about the battle between Good and Evil and I knew immediately that this would be the central theme.

LS Where do you feel most comfortable writing?

D At home. I like to feel cocooned by belongings and my family.

LS Does writing absorb you completely?

D Yes, everything just falls away. It’s difficult to keep up friendships.

LS Do you see your characters unwinding before your eyes?

D No, it’s as if I am inside the character looking out. I get very attached to them. In Angelology two of them die and I was very sorry.

LS What do you find so special about your life in France?

D Since I left Rhode Island I have the sensation that time has slowed down. We put our kids in an International school to begin with, but now they go here in the village. They walk to school and like to stop off at the boulanger. We love being close to the sea and to the Cévennes hills. We love wine and enjoy discovering different vineyards.

LS And French cooking?

D I cook quite a bit; things like gratin de legumes, tarte-tatin, crème brulée and my son makes a great fondant au chocolat.

LS What are your plans for the immediate future?

D To write a series of books, but I’m open to anything artistic. This comes from my mother’s family. They were vaudeville artists in the 1930’s.

LS The film rights have been bought by Will Smith. Do you think the film will remain close to the story?

D I expect it to be a bit different. My story does meander.

LS Do you believe in Angels?

D Not in the Catholic sense. The word ‘Angel’ just means ‘messenger’ and these play an important role in all our lives.

Laura Chanter talks to Danielle Trussoni

Angelology (hardback) Viking Adult, (paperback) Penguin USA

*La malédiction des anges Editeur: Fleuve Noire (mai 2010)