Katherine Pancol moved from Casablanca to France when she was five. She studied literature and initially became a French and Latin teacher, before turning to journalism. While working for Paris-Match and Cosmopolitan, she is noticed by an intuitive publisher who encourages her to begin writing. Following the success of her first novel Moi D'abord (Me First) in 1979, Pancol moves to New York City where she spends the next decade pursuing creative writing and screenwriting classes at Columbia University while producing three more novels La Barbare in 1981, Scarlett, si possible and Les hommes cruels ne courent pas les rues.
Influenced by the American way of life, her style becomes even more enjoyable, action packed and fast paced.
Pancol's insights into human psychology, and particularly women, are amazingly accurate and her sense of details often shaded with wry humor. Her gift to lift people's spirits while providing great entertainment has been key to her success, inspiring many women to dare to be themselves while keeping a positive relationship with life itself.
Her novel The Yellow Eyes of Crocodiles (published in 2006) has been a huge success in France, where it sold more than one million copies and received the "Prix de Maison de la Presse, 2006" for largest distribution in France. Katherine Pancol was awarded "Best author 2007" by Gorodets Publishing (Moscow). The Yellow Eyes of Crocodiles was the 6th best sold book in France in 2008 (Le Figaro Littéraire).The Yellow Eyes of Crocodiles is already being translated into Russian, Chinese, Ukrainian, Polish, Italian, Korean, Vietnamese.
Katherine Pancol is divorced and has two grown children. She lives in Paris, France where she is currently writing the third sequel to The Yellow Eyes of Crocodiles.
Pancol updates her blog every week on her web-site (http://www.katherine-pancol.com).
Her most recent saga Les yeux jaunes des crocodiles, followed by The Turtles' Slow Waltz describes relationships between the members of a family and particularly between two sisters.
Many readers have been able to identify with the inspirational main character, Joséphine. This woman in her forties struggles with a divorce, economic problems, a difficult teenage daughter, a tyrannical mother and low self-esteem. She gets entangled in a lie set up by her sister, and becomes her ghost-writer. While she discovers her own talents, she now also struggles with a lack of recognition for her work. It is through those challenges that Joséphine finally grows and finds out who she really is.
The many characters surrounding Joséphine evolve into a web of friendships, betrayals and dreams. Even Florine, the 12th century rebellious young heroine Joséphine creates for her novel, becomes a character in her own right as her destiny unfolds within a well-developed medieval setting.
Easy to read, this page-turner inspires readers to move on, stay positive and not hide from life but embrace it.
Central Park's squirrels are sad on Mondays (Les écureuils de Central Park sont tristes le lundi), 2010, sequels of The yellow eyes of Crocodiles and The turtles slow waltz
The turtles slow waltz (La Valse lente des Tortues), 2008 - A sequel to The yellow eyes of Crocodiles
The yellow eyes of crocodiles ("Les Yeux Jaunes des Crocodiles"), 2006
Kiss me ("Embrassez-moi"), 2003
A faraway man ("Un homme à distance"), 2002
Rising gently through a vast love (Et monter lentement dans un immense amour), 2001
I was there first ("J'étais là avant"), 1999
Published by Fayard :
One last dance ("Encore une danse"), 1998
Published by Editions du Seuil :
Such a beautiful image ("Une si belle image"), 1994
Seen from the outside ("Vu de l'extérieur"), 1993
Cruel men aren't so easy to find ("Les hommes cruels ne courent pas les rues"), 1990
