I was born in Ottawa, but I was not alone: my twin sister, Danielle, arrived an hour before me. We joined a family of four other siblings, and a little brother followed a year later... 

Both my parents were authors. My father was also a librarian and, each week, he brought home a huge pile of books. There was a moment of great joy when my sister and I opened these books: The sweet smell of paper and ink, the beautiful images, the words written across the pages were like magic to us. 

I think I always wanted to write: I kept a personal diary at age seven... Of course I don't recall a word of it, only the excitement of putting sentences together.

After my parent's divorce, the four younger siblings moved to Montreal with our mother. Montreal represented a monumental change from Ottawa. It was a big city, with wide streets and an effervescent culture. I developed a passion for theatre and entered the National Theatre School of Canada at age 19. I graduated in playwriting three years later. The National Theatre School was my alma mater where I learned about storytelling, structure, creating strong characters and dialogue. I became a full-time playwright. 

Though I loved writing for the theatre, I could not make a living out of it, so I turned to television and became a professional screenwriter. I greatly enjoyed those years. It was exhilarating to be able to do what I loved most, writing, and all the while be paid for it...

About ten years ago, I decided to write my first novel, inspired by my childhood as almost all first novels are... It was important for me to portray the life of an eccentric and touching French-Canadian family in Ottawa before those times were forgotten. This novel, Le Fort intérieur, was published in 2006 and selected for the 5th Edition of the Archambault Prize for a first novel. The novel didn't win, but I caught the "novel writing virus"... I love to be alone at my desk, like a conductor leading an orchestra, without any deadline or constraints others than the ones I give myself... 

In 2007, I started to write Fanette, my historical fiction series. I did an enormous amount of research, and wrote 5 to 7 hours a day. I was deeply moved by the fate of the Irish families who struggled to survive and strived for a better life in a foreign country. I realized that these lives from the past were very close to me. My ultimate goal was to resuscitate them through fiction so that readers could learn more about the hardship and destinies of Irish immigrants, who played a tremendous role in the history of Canada. More than seven years and 3,500 pages later, I completed the seventh and last volume of the series. The first two volumes are available in English. 

​

A sequel for Fanette

​

After writing and publishing three contemporary novels (La Cueva, Je est une autre and Ma vie est entre tes mains) I had lots of new exciting ideas for a suite of my historical saga. At the end of book seven, my Irish heroine was only 28 years old. She struggled to become a journalist in w masculin world. So here I am with a sequel in two parts : the first one, "Fanette - Amitiés particulières", has just been published in French (Éditions Libre Expression), and the second part will be published in January 2022. 

​

​

​