THE STORY OF SALOU
The story of Salou started many years back when I was still a young girl living with my parents in Yaoundé, Cameroon.
Crouched behind the large curtains separating the bedrooms quarters from the living room, I would listen with all the attention of an 8-year-old, to the love story of a young doctor, colleague of my father, who flew from France to ask in marriage the hand of his beautiful fiancée. It took weeks for the story to be told, each day with intriguing details and interesting descriptions of the experience he was going through.
Five years ago, when I decided to write my first novel, images of this episode of my childhood resurfaced and enticed me to put down on paper this story that captivated me so much and left such an unforgettable mark on my imagination. This is how Salou and Benjamin, the main protagonists, came to be, and the rest is history.
The story of Salou is above all a love story – against the backdrop of social and political unrest in Guinea, between two very special people facing down the trials that life throw at them.
A DANCE BETWEEN REALITY AND IMAGINATION
Writing a book inspired by admired faces is like embarking on a dance between reality and imagination. Each glance at a captivating expression becomes a spark, leading the author deeper into the labyrinth of storytelling. These faces—whether strangers or familiar souls—become fragments of characters waiting to be born. The journey is a mosaic of stolen moments: the curve of a smile, the weight of a gaze, or the unspoken emotion in a fleeting encounter. With every word written, the author breathes life into these echoes, turning admiration into a story that pulses with truth and wonder.
WHEN THE AUTHOR MEETS HER CHARACTER’S INSPIRATIONAL FACE
My fingers paused mid-sentence as if summoned by fate itself. In my mind, I pictured her—the face I had only known through words and imagination. Her eyes held the depth I’d woven into my pages, and the curve of her smile mirrored the very soul I had tried to bring to life. It was as if my creation had slipped between the folds of fiction and reality, daring me to believe in magic. In that fleeting moment, my story ceased to be just mine—it became a shared heartbeat between creator and muse.
