Dominique Manotti's Books

Biography

Born Marie-Noëlle Thibault in Paris in 1942, Dominique Manotti is an economic historian and crime writer.

Politicisation

During the 1950s, she became deeply politicised by coverage of the Algerian War and Algeria’s struggle to win political freedom from France.

“Between 1958 and 1960, I can’t remember how I discovered what was happening in Algeria. I was a normal citizen, almost apolitical: anyone could have found out about it, but it was one of my life’s defining moments. I told myself that I would never be deceived by politicians’ fine words again. The French army tortured people, displaced populations, massacred… all with the approval of the politicians who wiped their feet on the right of people to self-rule.” (Universite Paris8)

Activism

She became an activist, both as a student, joining the Union of Communist Students, and later working as a history lecturer as a trade unionist at the CFDT (French Democratic Confederation of Labour).

She was also a member of the Cahiers de Mai, an organisation that — following the civil unrest in Paris in May 1968 — produced a fortnightly journal that sought out and published the ideas and experiences of France’s workers.

“The Cahiers de Mai taught me a lot about writing the kind of novels I write; the most important thing is to know how to listen. People are decent. You have to understand their body language and their positions. I’ve used this ability to listen to people in my work as a novelist.” (Universite Paris8)

Disillusionment

She became frustrated with politics in 1981 when President Mitterrand won a landslide majority and remained in power for sixteen years.

“The election of Mitterrand (whom I never thought of as left-wing) very quickly meant the stifling of my social struggles and any hope of change in society. As Mitterrand received massive popular support, I had to admit my failure and that of my generation. My feeling was not political discontentment; it was deep desperation. Suddenly, my historical research lost much of its meaning. It was time to do a personal reassessment. It took me about ten years, after which I started writing novels.” (fondu au noir)

Writing

Her website says she became a novelist late in life, not as a vocation but out of despair.

Writing under the pen name Dominique Manotti, she published her first novel Rough Trade in 1995 when she was 53. She writes historical crime fiction using her academic training. She builds on recent social and political events in France. Manotti cites American noir movies and the writers John Dos Passos and Dashiell Hammett as her inspiration.

Dominique Manotti’s books have been described as journalistic, and they have received critical acclaim in her native France and Europe. The writing is sparse, precise and focuses on the story’s facts, though she claims to write like a historian rather than a reporter.

“When I attack a story, I look at it like a historian, both in terms of its research and construction. I know how the story ended. That isn’t the case for journalists; they work with breaking news and don’t have time to revise what they wrote before. When I research newspaper archives, I am always alone. I do not meet journalists… …Knowing how a story ends means I construct it differently.” (fondu au noir)

The Political Thriller

Her switch from political activism to crime writing may appear an about-face, maybe even a sell-out, until you read one of her novels.

Her first novel Rough Trade is set against the backdrop of an illegal immigrant workers’ strike in the Sentier district of Paris in 1980, in which she was involved.

Lorraine Connection tells the tale of a fatality at an electronics factory, corporate corruption and E.U. funding; it is based on the collapse of the French subsidiary of Daewoo.

Affairs of State details international arms deals, high-class prostitution, corruption and murder. All were choreographed by François Bornand, an aide of the President of France. Those in the know point to the remarkable similarities between the fictional François Bornard and the real François de Grossouvre, an aide to President Mitterrand during the 1980s.

Manotti mines recent French history and creates intricate thrillers about corruption, power and greed. Despite her political leanings, you won’t come away from them feeling you have been preached at, but she takes some unflinching potshots at the rich and powerful and delights in playing with fire.

She pulls no punches.

The Power of a Good Book

As a famous literary figure, her writing may have done far more to promote her political views than her activism.

“I started writing novels. Because, as Sepulveda said, ‘to tell is to resist’. Because popular culture is vital for the future of a country”. (Dominique Manotti)