Since its debut in 2014, the series Juliet breaks sales records and that’s understandable: the young heroine created by the author Rose-Line Brasset is as curious as she is endearing! This fall, Juliette will return for a new adventure in Berlin.
To date, more than 600,000 copies of your series Juliet have passed. We can now speak of the “Juliet empire”!
(Laughs) It’s still something! I am writing the 19e volume, a story that will introduce Juliette to Florida. Naively, I had told my editor that I would make him 69 volumes. We started with two books, that of Juliet in New York and Juliet in Barcelona. We continued like this, with two novels a year and then the comic strip arrived.
What makes Juliette such a winning and endearing heroine?
The big advantage is that Juliette doesn’t age. She will always be 13 years old. Then the subject and the hero of each novel, it is always the destination that is experienced, felt and observed through the character of Juliette. We discover a city or a country and we really “feel” it because Juliette experiences adventures, not to say sometimes disasters!
This fall, you will present Juliet in Berlin and comics Juliet in Hawaii. Why did you want to guide Juliette to Berlin?
In 1989, when the Berlin Wall fell, I was there! I still remember the television bulletins where we saw the young people storming the wall. These are historic moments. With Juliet in Berlin, I wanted to talk about these communication walls that we put up between us… Parents will sometimes say that when they talk to their teenager, they feel like they’re talking to a wall! I wanted to draw a parallel with the famous Berlin Wall which physically separated families for almost 30 years.
What trip would have been the most formative for Juliette, as a young girl?
It’s annoying, because each time, she learns so many things and faces difficulties… In Juliet in London, Juliette has to take care of young children. At first, she is fearful, but she gradually gains confidence. Then in Juliet in Athens, she is introduced to autism and difference. In Juliet in Rome, she is being bullied and has to find solutions. She becomes stronger. Juliette is constantly confronted with the problems of young people her age and each time, she finds solutions.
If you had one travel tip to give, what would it be?
To try to meet people and be invited into their homes, to see how they live. With luck, we can see what these people have in their fridge, in their drawers, etc. We have plenty of lessons to learn from the way other people live.