The beautiful adventure of "Noir de Lune", prize "20 Minutes" of the novel

Estelle Tolliac, winner of the 20 Minutes of the novel award with Noir de Lune -

• "Noir de Lune" won the novel's first "20 Minutes" Prize.

• This captivating adventure novel is written by Estelle Tolliac, a 38-year-old professor of Letters from Haut-Savoy.

• The first of the two planned volumes will be released this Thursday, under the title “Noir de Lune”, the second, “Bleu de Lune”, is scheduled for spring 2021.

The

novel

 ?

Here is "a heroic epic with a romantic breath, to read absolutely".

The advice is signed by the writer Maxime Chattam, president of the jury for the

of the novel

prize

, on the cover banner of Estelle Tolliac's first book, which comes out this Thursday.

"It's a job that can be counted in years of life," insists this 38-year-old professor of Letters.

I started it, I was not married.

In the meantime, I had two children.

In the end, it took more than six years to overcome it.

"I read the announcement of the competition in

 ".

The theme "the future belongs to youth" stuck well ...

The characters in

are not yet 20 years old.

The Haute-Savoie writer propelled them into a sometimes cruel imaginary world, in an era that was more medieval than contemporary.

This is what gives its

polish

 to an excellent adventure novel.

An initiation novel also, where there is no lack of "first times" between Vipéryne, Lune, Drachniel, Zar or Johan, who will have to help each other to save a princess who survived a massacre and avoid a bloodthirsty war between peoples rivals of a torn continent.

Striking modernity

Noir de Lune

is a striking novel with the modernity of its intrigues which castigate sexist and racist prejudices.

Women play a decisive role there, not displeasing young men who are nevertheless gallant.

"I have always liked the characters of strong and independent women," explains the writer.

One of her heroines is volcanic, the other more Gothic (unless it's the other way around).

"I have a weakness for characters a little double like Kriss de Valnor in the comic book saga 

 ", quotes Estelle Tolliac as model of the O'haï, mysterious princess she wanted "potentially frightening while she is in fact harmless ”.

"And I imagined villains whose cruelty is at the border of humanity," she adds.

With a handicap, their blindness, which at the same time proves to be their strength ... "

Reading it, we can guess that this author loves great literature as much as small, the classics (she quotes Rimbaud or Victor Hugo) and the moderns (from Tolkien to 

).

But it was more precisely

Stephenie Meyer's

that pushed her to one day embark on the writing of a novel, she who until then had rather excelled in poetry - which earned her a few awards.

"This novel, I wanted to make a recreational book, pure entertainment," summarizes Estelle Tolliac.

This is what I consume myself as a reader, although I also appreciate the beautiful feathers.

But I am also a big fan of genre literature, comics, horror films and especially zombie films… Despite everything, I did not want to exaggerate the violent passages.

is a chivalrous novel that I wanted accessible to young readers as well.

"

"Moon Blue" to follow

The length of the original manuscript (over 700 pages) prompted Les Nouvelles Authors and Prisma Media, our publishing partners for the book, to release it in two volumes.

The first,

, goes on sale this Thursday.

The second, to be released in the spring of 2021, will be titled

(and it's just as great).

But Estelle Tolliac already cares about the desire to publish a third.

 ?

Time will tell, but there is little doubt.

The future does not belong only to the youth, but also to the daring authors.

Podcast

Prize "20 Minutes" of the novel: Who is Estelle Tolliac, the big winner?

Culture

The “20 Minutes” prize is awarded to the adventure novel “Noir de Lune”

• Maxime Chattam

• Youth

• Novel

• Adventure

• Fantasy

• Books

• Literary prize

• Culture