Éliane Guillemain wrote a book whose action takes place in the Lozérienne prefecture. A first novel for this former nurse who lives in Burgundy.
A detective novel about the city of Mende has just been published. Its author, Éliane Guillemain is not Lozérienne, and it was during a trip that she was seduced by our city and decided to make it the framework of her novel. She will also meet the public from Mendois on Saturday May 24, 2025 at the Lamartine media library from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., in partnership with the Les P’tits Papiers bookstore.
“I have always had a weakness for words and painting”
Éliane lives in southern Burgundy, in a charming village, “improved by its vines, its characteristic bell tower church, its exceptional views and the majestic rock of Solutré in the background“. She practiced the profession of nurse at the Mâcon hospital center. Three years before retirement, she decided to continue a new enriching experience in a large school center. How did she come to write a novel?”Well, I always had a weakness for words and painting, a passion for creation, even the most modest. But from there to imagine that I will embark on the writing of a novel in two volumes, there was a world! It was not written in my DNA“She admits.
A thriller full of twists and turns …
Following the reading of a short story of around forty pages, where we discover a body in a rugged car, Éliane embarks on writing a thriller with twists and turns. The intrigue revolves around a woman found tied up in the trunk of a rugged car in the Cévennes. The Mende police station will embark on the investigation.
“I visited Mende and the surroundings, in the company of Thierry, my husband. We took a multitude of photos to illustrate my literary presentations that I organize regularly. I became a real tourist agent from Mende. In my novel I use the Mende police station, which I often call the fold: the Notre-Dame and Saint-Privat Cathedral of Mende, the Lozère Hospital, La Poste, the Prefecture, the Palais de Justice, the Gare, the Hunting House which turns into “Hunting Club”, the
Streets, a few shops, the Hôtel de France, Mont Mimat and many others … I have been brought to revisit certain places, for the purposes of my scenario. I revitalized the station by adding a direct, round trip, from Mende to Paris, yes, downright! I added a trunk devoted to offerings for the Black Virgin, in the cathedral. I also invented the interior of the police station that I did not visit“Summarizes Éliane.
Once written, the author made him read to her entourage who pushed her to self-edit him. “”My novel was selected for a first novel competition to which I had not applied“. Result, at the end of November 2025.
