The Secret Fire - Questions to Sacha and Taylor

Pour la sortie du prochain roman de Carina Rozenfeld et CJ Daugherty, The Secret Fire (Le Feu Secret), les éditions Atom lancent une semaine autour du livre. Il s'agit en réalité d'un "Blog tour", reliant des blogs et blogueurs français et anglais.

Aujourd'hui, je vous présente avec The Pewter Wolf, le résultat de plusieurs semaines de collaboration. Notre article ? Vous allez bientôt le découvrir... Dans l'esprit d'échange et de partage, le voici en anglais. N'hésitez pas à aller faire un tour sur The Pewter Wolf pour la traduction française !

Je vous laisse donc faire connaissance avec Sacha et Taylor, l'un français et l'autre anglaise, les deux personnages principaux du roman... Merci à Carina Rozenfeld et CJ Daugherty de s'être mises dans leur peau pour nous répondre ! Et pour vous mettre dans l'ambiance, voici une playlist avec quatorze artistes et chansons cités dans l'article... 

Bonne lecture !

Welcome to our blogs, Sacha and Taylor. Before we go any further, give us a little bit of info about yourselves.

Sacha : My name is Sacha Winters. I live in Paris and I'm 17 years old, soon 18 (unfortunately). I live with my mother and my little sister in an apartment in the west of Paris. My father died, a few years ago, in a car crash. My peculiarity? I can’t die, not until I’m 18, and I can tell you it’s really screwing up my life...

Why do you think your teacher, Mr Deide for Sacha and Mr Finlay for Taylor, put you forward for this blog post?

Sacha : Because he likes to give me extra work ? It's his big specialty. But I like him. He is the only teacher of the High School that is a bit interested in me. So maybe he asked me, indeed, to prove me that he likes me… in his own way!

Taylor : He’s always doing things like this. To be honest, I think he’s more obsessed with me getting into Oxford than I am. But he’s a pretty good teacher.

What lessons do you like? And what lessons don't you like?

Sacha : When I went to class, I liked history because my father was a medievalist historian ; English is easy because my father, who was from England, would always speak to me in English. I do okay in other classes. But all of this belongs to the past.

Taylor : I love history and French. Science is kind of cool. I also love maths. Actually, there are no classes I don’t like! I can’t wait for uni, though. That’s when things will really get interesting.

Where do you see yourself in five years time? Do you see yourself in further education, traveling the world, or doing something different?

Sacha : Haha, this is a joke, isn't it? I don't even think I'll be alive in five years! I shall remind you that I have to die in 8 weeks, the day of my 18th birthday! So in five years, if I get there... We'll see at this time.

Taylor : I’m going to study archaeology at St Wilfred’s, Oxford. That’s all there is to it. It will happen. Then I’m going to grad school. In five years, I’ll be an archaeologist. You wait and see.

Do you believe the past is important for our future?

Sacha : It's the past that makes me who I am today. It's my family's past that chases me again, and that is both a burden and a treasure. The past is the grounding of each individual. Without it, we are new-borns. Now, I would have preferred mine to be... lighter, we'll say! Because for now, it doesn't help me to consider my future. Bloody hell, I'm getting confused with these questions!

Taylor : ABSOLUTELY. We build our cities on top of past cities. And we build our lives on top of past lives. How can the past not be important? It’s part of us.

Now that we have asked the boring questions, let’s talk music. What kind of music do you like?

Sacha : Now, I admit that I listen to not-so-happy things. I like when it's about death, the fact of being a monster, being different. I was more like the Care Bears before, but we'll say that time changes. These last days, I've been listening to Nirvana again and again. Maybe I feel a connection with Kurt Kobain. I'll tell him if I see him after my death.

Taylor : My best friend Georgie is obsessed with Taylor Swift, and I kind of like her, too. But I’m a little more indie, myself. When Georgie isn’t around to complain about it, I listen to bands like First Aid Kit and Neko Case.

Do you have a song you really like right now?

Sacha : Creep by Radiohead.

Taylor : There’s a song called ‘When I Grow Up’ by First Aid Kit that I’m listening to a lot. It’s a little old but it’s good.

What does it make you think about?

Sacha : That I'm not the only one to feel bad, to think that I'm weird; that I don't understand why I'm like this and how I can change it.

Taylor : Being able to make my own decisions, and do what I want. Being brave.

Do you have a song you like to listen to when you're not in a good mood?

Sacha : I am not often in a good mood lately.

Taylor : I’m always in a good mood!!

Do you have a song that motivates you no matter what?

Sacha : I don't remember. Before, I used to listen to songs that gave me energy, made me want to sing, to dance, to laugh. I don't remember how it was...

Taylor : Do you know the song Boom Clap? I love it!

One final question: what was the last song you listened to?

Sacha : Losing my religion by REM. It is about loss of everything : confidence, faith, love. « That was just a dream. » Maybe this is my life. A dream, a nightmare...

Taylor : Georgie was over last night and she was in charge of the music so OF COURSE it was Bad Blood, by Taylor Swift. It always is.

Thank you so much Sacha and Taylor for answering my questions!

And a huge thank you to Carina Rozenfeld and CJ Daugherty!