Helena Frith Powell's Blog, page 9

A tribute to Denise Epstein

I wrote this article in 2007 for the Sunday Times. Denise died earlier this month and I am posting it with much sadness but happy memories of meeting her. When Irene Némirovsky was sent to Auschwitz she left behind a … Continue reading →

Where is everyone?

It was impossible to predict how I would feel once back home, having left my three children behind in England. It has only been two days but so far I feel rather flat. Their rooms of course are a constant … Continue reading →

A tale of Mrs T

I once met Mrs Thatcher at the British embassy in Paris. The year was 1989 and I was staying with my friend Iona, the daughter of the then ambassador. He is a lovely man called Sir Ewen Fergusson, who was … Continue reading →

The case of the barking parrot

One of the things I hate about France is barking dogs. It seems that wherever you go, even somewhere as isolated as Sainte Cecile, you will hear some poor dog yapping in the distance. If you live in a village, … Continue reading →

Coma, what coma?

It all started with an email entitled ‘worried’ from my mother. No one had heard anything from my father for two days. “He’s not answering the door, or the phone,” she wrote. “The lady who lives below him hasn’t heard … Continue reading →

The business of selling books

A few days ago I sent my latest novel to my publisher. The last thing I write is the dedication and then off it goes, no longer just something sitting on my laptop, but going out into the world, almost … Continue reading →

The French role model (again)

Just after Christmas we went to a party at the home of a French family we are quite friendly with. Like us, they have three children aged between nine and 13. Unlike us, these children look and behave like they … Continue reading →

Change is good…I hope

Change is good I keep telling myself, as I lie awake at 3am most mornings contemplating the magnitude of the plans we have. In April Leo goes off to boarding school in Surrey. All being well, the girls will go … Continue reading →

In search of a school……

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a middle-class mother in possession of daughters must be in want of a school. Or at least an expat middle-class mother who is utterly horrified at the level of education on offer where … Continue reading →

Lawyers, orphans and the pathetic Mr Putin

Several years ago,when I was still editing the magazine Central European (a must-read) I used to travel to Russia every few weeks to write a supplement we ran called Russiamoney. This was back in the early 1990s when Russia was … Continue reading →