I have a book out. Am I allowed to talk about it?

[NomenNudum]

Not sure of the rules 😬

Of course you can! Congratulations!
What’s the title?

Oh good! It's called Mothers' Instinct. It's a great beach read, and there's a film version coming out soon too, which is very exciting (though I had absolutely no involvement in that side of things[. I hope I get invited to the premier!

BTW I am a MN regular, NCed for this!

hope they paid for the film rights OP but well done

Are you Barbara Abel, OP, or are you talking about a completely different book?

Mothers' Instinct: A Novel of Suspense: Amazon.co.uk: Abel, Barbara, Pickford, Susan: 9780063306318: Books

I'm impressed that you got yourself a good publisher, and hope you had a nice windfall from the movie rights.

Or are you Susan Pickford (the translator of the book)?

If you wrote the book surely you would be invited to the film premiere? 🤔

Well the OP surely isn't the author as she is French and wrote it in French which had to be translated into English.

???????

Why does that mean the OP isn’t Barbara Abel?

Why would a person who can write in English like the OP need a translation from her original French?

Also Barbara Abel has had many books published (14 thrillers plus others) but the thread reads as if this is a first...........🤔

@NomenNudum if it is a new book then whoever is doing your promo needs firing as only BA's book comes up when googling!

It is the writer's first book to be published in English I think. The original novel came out in 2012. Will OP come back and confirm if she is the writer or translator?

wordswithoutborders.org/book-reviews/the-stories-we-tell-ourselves-about-motherhood-on-mothers-instinct-by-barbara-abel-jenessa-abrams/

I don’t think that’s the right book - the film’s already out.

Ignore - there’s a Hollywood version coming soon, a remake of the original 2018 French movie.

Intriguing thread!

Are you mary Fenwick?

C'mon OP, how can we be sure of buying the right book if you don't confirm we have the right one?

Just tell us about the book, characters, story, etc, that will do, please.

Did the OP ever return to the thread??

Maybe her PR team has been banned by MNHQ!

My French is pretty good, I could certainly write on an Internet forum in French. Writing a whole novel in French would be a real stretch though.

Haha sorry everyone for the mystery, it's been a busy week! I translated it, hence not being sure about getting an invite, I'm sure the author will! It was a fun book to work on, if emotionally challenging at times. Happy to talk about the process if anyone's interested 😀

I'm interested!
How do you get a gig like that? What's your background?
How much leeway are you allowed when translating a novel? Do you have a lot of freedom in the use of language or does the publisher insist on a literal translation? Did you change anything in the story?

I've been in the sector for over 20 years, in this case the publisher came to me to ask if I could fit it into my schedule, and luckily I could. Leeway is tricky, there's always a tightrope between writing something that sounds OK in English and not moving too far from the original. In this case we made a handful of changes with the author's blessing, a couple of references that wouldn't have worked well in English and one plot point that needed clarifying (and that arguably changes the whole back story / motive![

I didn't get any extra money from the film rights, but the author definitely did, she got flown out to visit the film set too. I haven't met her yet but should be doing a festival with her in a couple of months.

How exciting! Congratulations