Discover "Le premier domino", 4th novel by Jean-Louis Sarrato!

Born in Toulon, at the age of 14-15, he moved to Hyères with his parents. He studied at the Lycée Jean Aicard. His first completed work was a play "Et, le combat cessa", which he wrote in eleventh grade and performed at the high school as part of the drama club.

Later on, he became a school teacher. Jean-Louis SARRATO answers questions from La Gazette du Var. What happens a few years later?

Jean-Louis SARRATO. At the Lycée Jean Aicard, the drama club still existed. I had written a second play which was a parody of "Roméo et Juliette".

It was entitled "Les déments de Canaverone", a play that was performed at the Lycée Jean Aicard.

Meanwhile, did you also travel? JLS. I lived for about ten years on the island of Réunion where I was still working as a school teacher. I was also a freelancer for a local newspaper. With some friends, we created a press agency and, with the same friends, we sank it. (Laughs).

Then I left to live in Paris. And then, it was theatre? JLS.

While I was a school teacher, I went on stage for a comedy one-man show. I also acted in more classical plays. In the late 90s, I wrote a play "Où étiez-vous quand Noémie s'est cousu le vagin?

". This play was read at the Théâtre du Rond-Point in Paris, directed at the time by Jean-Michel Ribes.

And then, was it your return to the South? JLS. I came back, still as a school teacher, to the Bouches-du-Rhône where I finished my career. I stopped writing at that point. For six years, I was seconded to the Protection Judiciaire de la Jeunesse to work with adolescents under the judicial system.

Then, upon retirement, I returned to my native land, the Var, and I started writing novels. Including, in particular, "Le Premier domino"? JLS.

"Le Premier domino" is my 4th novel, inspired by a true story. I insist on the term "inspired". The real story is about an island off the coast of Mexico called Clipperton, which is under Mexican possession.

It is quite an extraordinary island because at the beginning of the 20th century, nothing grew on this island, and it was only supplied by boat every three months. Soldiers, a Mexican garrison, and a company harvesting guano lived there. These people were purely and simply forgotten on this island by their government and found themselves cut off from the world for several years.

Where do you find your inspiration? JLS. I happened upon this incredible story by chance.

At first, I wanted to write this story, but in the end, I wanted to talk about colonial France rather than Mexico. I took this island, placed it in the Indian Ocean, so I invented an island with the same configuration as Clipperton. Throughout the novel, I had fun moving closer to the original story and at times moving away from it.

There is a constant game, a back and forth. I advise my readers to browse the internet after reading my book to read the history of Clipperton island.

Who is your heroine? JLS. It is an epistolary novel.

The letters are written by my heroine; I tried to find the way of writing and thinking of a young bourgeois woman in 1907. I immersed myself in the vocabulary, phrasing, and way of thinking of a 20-year-old woman in 1900. My heroine, who is a positive character, will try to fight against injustice.

In your books, we feel your love for words? JLS. Each of my novels is set in a different universe, a different era, a different style.

No two of my books are alike. I have written a psychological thriller, a burlesque novel, a novel that is an urban and contemporary tragedy. I love language, words, and I love working with words and language.

I like to give myself an author's challenge.

• PLEASE NOTE... You can find Jean-Louis Sarrato on social media: Facebook and Instagram. On his website: jeanlouissarrato.fr His 4th novel "Le premier domino" is published by Éditions de "L'encre y est".