Interview With Erotic Romance Author Tani Ruiz Fuster

X in Provence is a novel about obsession, betrayal and survival set in a place that normally conjures up paradise. It is a novel that is based, in part, on the author’s true romance with a narcissist.  

 

1. What inspired you to write this book? I first wrote this book as a memoir, recounting the 18 months that I lived in Mazan, a village in the Provençal region of the Vaucluse. Those 18 months were some of the best and worst of my life. I wanted, or rather needed, to pour down on paper what I’d experienced from the fairy tale beginning right to the sordid end. It was a journey of self-therapy but also of discovering what it is to craft a book – expressing feelings is quite different from recording global news events. This book helped me to process intense experiences, sharing the beauty and the beastliness of this stand-out chapter of my past. Later, I fictionalized the book, although it still contains much that is true. And the messages remain the same. Read on!

 

2. What exactly is it about — and who is it written for? X in Provence crafts a new take on a classic theme: the perils of falling in love with highly charismatic, highly narcissistic personalities. As well as a (destructive) love story, the book weaves together weighty themes, such as different cultural nuances, family dynamics and sexual mores, against a backdrop – Provence – that still lingers in our consciousness as paradise. The book starts with English journalist Rai leaving a flourishing career in Hong Kong to move in with her French lover, convinced their futures lie together. In Provence she discovers la dolce vita – as well as a darker demimonde that she is thrust into with mixed emotions. Alain, her charmer beau, proposes. After marriage, however, he turns chilling, eager to berid of the woman he wooed to Provence, now ruinously hooked on him. Pierre, Alain’searnest younger brother takes Rai’s side, leading to revelations and some tectonic existential shifts – reminders that today’s decisions often have utterly unchartered consequences for our tomorrows.

 

By a sheer – if jarring – coincidence, the village of Mazan, where my book is set, has leapt onto the world’s radar, sadly not in a salubrious way. X in Provence draws no parallels between the atrocities that happened to Gisèle Pelicot in Mazan – which she courageously chose to expose in a public trial – and my own story. Yet my novel is the first to give voice to

a whole new side of Provence – sex-sodden and treacherous. A strange kind of synchronicity?

 

In terms of the audience, my book is primarily aimed at women – of all ages. But I don’t wish to exclude men. Indeed, I see it as a solid man’s read, albeit from a female perspective

 

3. What do you hope readers will get out of reading your book? I hope readers will find my book entertaining, gripping and enlightening – especially about the mechanisms of manipulation and emotional abuse wielded by narcissists; and, under their sway, how easy it is for the most confident of women to sink into submission and self-loathing. I hope readers gain an understanding that obsessive, possessive intoxication can happen to anyone regardless of intelligence, education, socio-economic status, or any other characteristic.

 

While my book may resonate most deeply with women who have been or are currently in a relationship with a “baddy”, it’s a clarion call to miss (and mister) everyone everywhere. Women (or men) who have never been in a destructive relationship may think

that such a situation could “never happen to me”. Yet this novel may help them to better understand how the “never” could end up being “oh my god, it happened to me”. On the bright side, the take-away is that release and recovery are possible. While we can fall down

and shatter into pieces, we can get up and reconstitute ourselves – there is gain after pain.

 

I’d like readers to walk away with a more prurient view of Provence. My book shows a whole new facet of life in this southern French region: a place where partner swapping and other sexual escapades are popular hobbies, as casual, almost, as nipping out for a café-au-

lait. For readers, this ‘other’ Provence may provide new insights into and a new understanding of certain aspects of French culture (especially given recent events in

Mazan).

 

This novel lunges into two sets of sibling dynamics – between three very different brothers –including a dead one in India – and three sisters. I’d like to think there will be some “aha” moments when reading about things like sibling envy, hurt, resentment and fissures as well as forgiveness and succour. Peeling away the layers of complexities around families other than our own can be comforting as well as fascinating.

 

4. How did you decide on your book’s title and cover design? I came up with several titles before honing in on X in Provence – admittedly and serendipitously with the help of a good friend. The title is a play on words, referring to the city Aix en Provence and to X-rated content. The book cover design came about through trial and error. I could picture what I wanted but it took a while to get the visuals to match my idea for a cover that is mysterious, evocative and provocative, but not complicated.

 

5. What advice or words of wisdom do you have for fellow writers – other than run!? It can be very helpful to have another pair of eyes or two (or three!) to review your manuscript for guidance and grammatical precision. But a word of caution. Don’t let the

opinions of others take precedence over what you hold dear. Listen to your inner voice. Take what resonates from a critique and let go of the rest. Remember, every professional editor or literary critic has a different view and their own priorities and preferences in terms

of content and form. Hold your ground on what you want to convey and how. My book doesn’t follow the standard format in fiction and I’m fine with that. Part of being creative is to make your own mark in your own way.

 

6. What trends in the book world do you see -- and where do you think the book publishing industry is heading?  What I find encouraging is that people are still reading and buying paperback books, even with the ebook and audio book explosion. Not that I have anything against electronic or audiobooks. On the contrary. The more options you have to enjoy the written word, the better. However, I think that far from dying out, physical books will continue to enjoy a renaissance. For me, the feel and weight of a book in my hands is still a thrill.

 

7. Were there experiences in your personal life or career that came in handy when writing this book?  I was passionate about writing X in Provence, but my discipline as a journalist did help in sitting down at the computer. I’m a voracious reader and have always loved crafting words. Writing as a professional activity runs in the family. Given that my book was originally written as a memoir, I had an existing reservoir of material to draw on as everything I depicted was based on personal experience.

 

8. How would you describe your writing style? Which writers or books is your writing similar to? I would describe my writing style as literary yet also accessible and down-to-earth. I love a clever turn of phrase and original metaphors and I like to think X in Provence is richly endowed with both.

 

9. What challenges did you overcome in the writing of this book? There were several challenges. The fact that I’d worked as a journalist had its downsides as well as upsides. Capturing details, emotions and realistic dialogue are definitely learned and acquired skills and at the beginning I really struggled with these elements. Writing news copy that omits unnecessary adjectives was my default setting and so I had to unlearn what came automatically in order to write a book. Fictionalizing my story was a huge challenge in

terms of harnessing my imagination and bringing to life in-depth, complex characters. It was so much easier to regurgitate memories and describe people I knew. Yet in a strange way delving into fiction was also liberating.

 

10. If people can buy or read one book this week or month, why should it be yours? You should buy my book if you want a page-turning, riveting, rollercoaster ride of a read. If you want to be surprised and shaken. If you want memorable characters, exotic destinations, erotic suspense and psychological intrigue. If you want a book that evokes the collective zeitgeist. In the context of societal shocks, the fact that my book is set in Mazan and reveals a murky underbelly to Provence adds to its timeliness and uniqueness.

 

About The Author: I grew up in London in a family of four children. Following undergraduate and Master’s degree studies in New York, I returned to London where I found my feet in journalism as an investigative reporter in the shipping industry. For more than a decade I worked for mainstream publications and news outlets in England, Hong Kong and Switzerland. Switching to a career in international development, I joined UNICEF and was based for over 14 years in Bangkok, where my children were born. I currently work as an independent editor, living in Spain. What drives me is curiosity and the quest to understand, layer by layer, enigmas that loom large in our lives, guided by father’s mantra: Never give up. For more information, please see: www.taniruiz.com

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For the past three decades, Brian Feinblum has helped thousands of authors. He formed his own book publicity firm in 2020. Prior to that, for 21 years as the head of marketing for the nation’s largest book publicity firm, and as the director of publicity at two independent presses, Brian has worked with many first-time, self-published, authors of all genres, right along with best-selling authors and celebrities such as: Dr. Ruth, Mark Victor Hansen, Joseph Finder, Katherine Spurway, Neil Rackham, Harvey Mackay, Ken Blanchard, Stephen Covey, Warren Adler, Cindy Adams, Todd Duncan, Susan RoAne, John C. Maxwell, Jeff Foxworthy, Seth Godin, and Henry Winkler.

 

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He hosted a panel on book publicity for Book Expo America several years ago, and has spoken at ASJA, BookCAMP, Independent Book Publishers Association Sarah Lawrence College, Nonfiction Writers Association, Cape Cod Writers Association, Willamette (Portland) Writers Association, APEX, Morgan James Publishing, and Connecticut Authors and Publishers Association. He served as a judge for the 2024 IBPA Book Awards.

 

His letters-to-the-editor have been published in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, New York Post, NY Daily News, Newsday, The Journal News (Westchester) and The Washington Post. His first published book was The Florida Homeowner, Condo, & Co-Op Association Handbook.  It was featured in The Sun Sentinel and Miami Herald.

 

Born and raised in Brooklyn, he now resides in Westchester with his wife, two kids, and Ferris, a black lab rescue dog, and El Chapo, a pug rescue dog.

 

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