Author Interview: Evelyne Holingue

Meet Author Evelyne Holingue
Website: Evelyne Holingue

Bio:
I was born and brought up in France and moved as an adult to the USA with my husband and our first child, only a baby. As I searched for a way to improve my limited English I took a writing class through the Institute of Children’s Literature. I was hooked and soon was writing fiction, mostly short stories. Some appeared in children’s magazines and placed in contests. I love Picture Books as much as I love YA and MG . Last January one of my PB manuscripts captured an agent’s interest. Since February 2019 I have been represented by Laurel Sydmonds from the Bent Agency.

Featured Book:
All the Mountains We Can Climb
by Evelyne Holingue

Interview:
Q: Tell me about your latest book.
A: All the Mountains We Can Climb is a YA novel set in the California foothills near Yosemite National Park.

The novel in a nutshell:
Noelle survived the car crash that killed her father and sister. Since then, she hasn’t told anyone what happened in the car seconds before the accident. Although she feels terribly guilty she’s too ashamed to talk to her mother and two best friends. A year later, as guilty and ashamed, Noelle still adheres to her mother’s rules, established after the tragedy. Until she secretly applies to an East Coast college that she toured with her father and breaks her promise to study in California.

Now graduating from high school Noelle must tell her mother. As if she needed more challenges her French uncle’s sons arrive unexpectedly from Paris.
Charismatic Quentin witnessed one of the Paris’s terror attacks. Not without consequences. Quiet Manu cooks like a chef and reads Noelle so well, perhaps because he knows something about grief and guilt too. Noelle’s last summer before college seems to be her chance to move on. Will she take it?

Q: What inspired you to write this story?
A: Sadly, car accidents planted the seeds for the novel.
For years I drove my kids to their high school, following a gorgeous road that cuts through Central California’s foothills and takes visitors to the three most visited National Parks in California: Kings Canyon and Sequoia southbound and Yosemite northbound.

This road was unfortunately as spectacular as it was deathly. We spotted too many crosses, flowers and wreaths, makeshift memorials in honor of a loved one. It saddened me that so many people could die in such beautiful surroundings. Even sadder was the fact that many were young men and women, too often teenagers. This heartbreaking reality planted the early seeds for All the Mountains We Can Climb.

In addition, since I love Yosemite National Park I had always wanted to showcase a tiny area of the park and the foothills that stretch at its foot in one of my stories. Although the town where Noelle lives is entirely fictional it is based on several towns I know well. I also make Noelle climb to the top of Half Dome under the moonlight, something I’ve also done.

Q: How similar/different is it to your other books?
A: All the Mountains We Can Climb is my second YA novel. Unlike Trapped in Paris that was fast paced and plot-driven All the Mountains We Can Climb is character-driven and quieter, more similar to my Middle Grade historical novel Chronicles From Château Moines, which has also a large set of characters, family and friends.

Through my writing I like to show my affection for my native and adoptive countries. This is why readers will always find a mix of French and American characters and French cultural elements in my novels.

Q: Do you have a website or a blog?
A: I have both and blog from my website, most often in English but sometimes in French, too, about writing, books, and also about my life spent between two cultures and languages.

Q: Where can we find your books?
A: My books are available on Amazon. Signed copies of my recent novel All the Mountains We Can Climb can be ordered from my website and a free e-book available early 2019 will be sent to anyone who purchased from my website. CLICK HERE to order your signed copy.

LINKS TO AMAZON:

Trapped in Paris

Chronicles From Château Moines

All the Mountains We Can Climb

Thank you so much, Nancy for inviting me on your website. It’s an honor to be featured among great authors.