Aurélie is a young 31-year-old woman and mother to a small boy. She also has an intense career professional life in the marketing sector in Italy.

I expected to sell 100 copies within two months of publication. Three months after being published, I had sold 10,000 copies. Now, publishers are coming to see me.
Aurélie Valognes

With her passion for gastronomy and travelling, Aurélie always had a dream: to write a book and publish it for her readers. “I started jotting down ideas, observations and personal feelings in a notebook, without any particular aim and without thinking that one day it would prove useful for something concrete,” Aurélie explains. “When I decided to leave my job to follow my husband when he was transferred abroad, I wanted to take advantage of the interlude in my life to take up my notes again and start writing my first novel.”

Thanks to Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), she has realised this dream with The extraordinary adventure of Mémé dans les orties (“Granny in the Nettles”) whilst continuing to manage both her family and professional life.

It all started in a Parisian café

A natural optimist, Aurélie enjoys writing positive stories inspired by everyday events. “In my first novel I introduced a 90-year-old super-active granny with a grumpy neighbour who has lost his lust for life. The book is based on the observation that there are very different types of old people: those who are open to the world and want to live each day to the fullest, and those who think that old age is a fatality and that they have nothing more to hope for from tomorrow. In a novel, anything becomes possible and therefore anyone can start to develop for the better and begin to live a brighter life, even if they are resistant to change.”

Reality has gone beyond Aurélie’s dream. “I expected to sell 100 copies within two months of publication. Three months after being published, I had sold 10,000 copies. Now, publishers are coming to see me.”