Julia Malye ‘s latest novel, already sold in 20 countries is about to be adapted by American cinema.

One of the phenomena of this beginning of year

Copyright Editions Stock

Fantastic story about the extraordinary destiny of three women at the beginning of the 18th century, “Louisiana”, written by a young unknown Parisian, Julia Malye, already purchased in around twenty countries, could be one of the phenomena of this beginning of year.
This novel is set in Paris, in 1720. Marguerite Pancatelin, the Superior of Salpêtrière, is mandated to select a hundred “volunteer” women who will be sent to Louisiana in order to marry French colonists.
Among them, three unlikely friends: a twelve-year-old orphan with a strong tongue, a young penniless aristocrat rejected by her family, and a woman convicted of abortion. Like their companions aboard La Baleine, Charlotte, Pétronille and Geneviève have no idea what awaits them beyond the seas. And they have no say in their future.

Different profiles of women

These strangers brought together by destiny will have to brave adversity – illness, war, patriarchy – and go through a life of heartache, births and losses, cruelty and unexpected pleasures. And a friendship forged in fire.
It’s a story that Julia Malye discovered by chance. While researching New Orleans, while she was interested in the history of women in the state of Louisiana, she discovered with astonishment this history that she had never heard of, as well as that of other groups of prisoners who were deported to Louisiana at the very beginning of the 18th century.
Julia Malye was keen to show different profiles of women who may have been sent from Salpêtrière to Louisiana. Geneviève, for example, is an extremely determined character. For her, it’s nice, as an author, to write characters who are sure of themselves because they take the reader’s hand.

Heroines driven by an extraordinary thirst for love and life.

Today, Julia Malye is 30 years old. She started this project in Louisiana eight years ago. She first wrote this novel in English, then rewrote it in French, and suddenly the proposals started flooding in. The editors found it fascinating, and the text suddenly became promising.

This novel is of striking depth and emotion, which transports us to the heart of a merciless land, alongside heroines driven by an extraordinary thirst for love and life.
Julia Malye’s fourth novel, Louisiana, was released by Stock in French. It will also be published in the United States, by Harper Collins, in its own translation, under the title Pelicans Girls.