Dominique Sylvain's Books

Biography

Born in 1957 in Thionville in Lorraine, Eastern France, Dominique Sylvain “escaped to Strasbourg” when she was eighteen. She studied both the visual arts and public relations and then worked for a dozen years in Paris. Her first job was as a journalist; then, she moved into internal communications and P.R. for Usinor, the French steelmaking group.

Life in East Asia

In the 1990s, she moved with her family to East Asia, living in Japan and Singapore.

Whilst living in Japan, she wrote her first novel, Baka! (Japanese for Idiot!) Since then, she has written a further 18 novels and won many awards. Her work has been translated into eight languages, but only three of Dominique Sylvain’s books — the Ingrid and Lola novels (which include Dirty War) — are available in English. Unfortunately, you are out of luck unless you speak French or are an aspiring publisher of continental crime fiction.

Ingrid and Lola

The Ingrid and Lola novels feature an unlikely friendship between Lola Jost, a retired Parisienne police commissaire and Ingrid Diesel, an American masseuse and striptease artist. As you might expect, the style is light-hearted and humorous, with few nauseating moments. If you are looking for Parisian blood and guts, you’d be better with Pierre Lemaitre, but Dominique Sylvain could be the author for you for light relief and an escape from relentless noir,

Rewrites

When it comes to writing, Ms Sylvain is a perfectionist. She has rewritten and republished two of her novels; first Baka! and then Travestis, which, 14 years after its first publication, was so dramatically altered it was rechristened as Le Roi Lézard. It isn’t clear if Sylvain is a glutton for punishment or simply enjoys her work.

“I had to review and revisit this novel several times. But for me, that’s nothing new. Stories resist me. But I like the fight.” (Bepolar)

Japanese Crime Fiction

The other thing that sets her apart from other writers is that Sylvain and her husband own and run a company, Atelier Akatombo, that specialises in republishing Japanese novels in French. Not content with writing her own stories, Sylvain also translates those of others. If your linguistic skills are up to it, you could try her translation into French of Le Loup d’Hiroshima by Yūko Yuzuki.

As both an author and translator, Sylvain has a straightforward view of what makes a good book:

“A good thriller is above all a good novel. Well built, well written, with plausible, human, touching characters. The subject doesn’t really matter.” (Bepolar)