In this literary return of 2014, 400 booksellers and 400 members of the FNAC elected the Prix ​​du Roman FNAC , the first novel of a young British: Benjamin Wood . His novel, The Eden Bellwether Complex, is a mysterious love story, we wanted to know more, so we met the very charming Benjamin Wood .

Advantages: Benjamin Wood, you are 33 years old, your book, The Eden Bellwether Complex, has been published in Britain, the United States, Canada, Israel ... and now in France, and where you receive the Prix du Roman FNAC ... It is in all countries the same enthusiasm?

Benjamin Wood: Yes. In England, he was selected for several prizes, in the United States he was noticed too, in Canada I made a great promotion tour, I had the honors of the press and for three years he sold rather not bad. But I am very honored, and very happy to receive this award, it is very gratifying to see how a book can reach readers. And then the French public is special, it is a country where the literary return is really important, a country where there are still independent publishers , there is a real expectation of quality in you. And I sign up for it, it's exciting. I look forward to seeing the reactions of the general public.

Advantages: How would you summarize the history of the Eden Bellwether Complex, can you poke it?

Benjamin Wood: It's a romance between Oscar, a young man who has already entered the world of work and Iris, a young student at King's College in Cambridge. This one to a brother, Eden, manipulative, eccentric and talented who believes in the power saving of the music and thinks to have capacities out of the common. It is a mysterious and gothic story , endowed with a British sensibility. I wanted to captivate my readers, to enclose them in an atmosphere close to claustrophobia, that they hold their breath. Actually I looked for the sensation of the closed session, because the novel happens in Cambridge, and the colleges of Cambridge are closed places.

Advantages: On one side Eden, a brilliant and arrogant character, a romantic hero. On the other Oscar, a character who has character but is humble. Which one looks best for you?

Benjamin Wood: Without a doubt Oscar ! His life resembles mine, where I picked up elements of my life to build Oscar . Like him, I lived in Cambridge but I did not study there. In fact I wrote this book in Cambridge, observing this little world. When I was a child, I lived in a retirement home, and Oscar worked there. I have much in common with him, it is a reflection of me. While Eden is much more talented than I am and he has a very high opinion of him. He is an eccentric and a little imbued with himself. If you've never lived in Cambridge, you've probably never been to such people. But they do exist. I wanted there to be an ambiguity in the feelings we feel for Eden . An attraction as much as a repulsion, according to the moments. Let him be "Machiavellially amiable." Absolutely not me!

Advantages: There is a tradition of campus novels in Anglo-Saxon literature, does the Eden Bellwether complex fit into this line?

Benjamin Wood: Indeed, there is a strong tradition of so-called "campus" novels. I like the idea of ​​being part of it, but I do not confine my novel to this style. Yet the place and the exact moment of life of my characters are two primordial factors, suddenly, it could not unfold elsewhere. Eden was to be a student of Cambridge, for his intellectual dimension. Yet I deliberately wanted to stand out, there is suspense in my novel , things are happening outside the King's College, and Oscar , is not an actor of university life but a spectator. To summarize, I knew I was writing a campus novel , but I wanted to blow up the walls.

Advantages: You are British, for you Cambridge is it an emblematic place of the English culture?

Benjamin Wood: For the British, Oxford and Cambridge are institutions . They represent a world of tradition but also a universe of privileges intended for an elite. Difficult for most English to identify with this. It is a world apart, and Oscar perceives it as such. What interested me was to show a character who lives there, alongside students, but will never make full use of this world. While Iris and Eden , along with their friends, grew up in these privileges and unlike Oscar will never have their place in the real world, that of ordinary mortals.

Advantages: The drama is announced, from the first pages. But one wonders what game Iris plays. You seem to make her navigate between her brotherly loyalty and her new love. What purpose ?

Benjamin Wood: I wanted Iris to be torn between doubt and faith. At one point, she doubts her brother and asks Oscar to help her to show that he is losing his reason. Then she regains her confidence in Eden , and tests Oscar's love. In fact, she does not cease to doubt, as we all do. We have this ability to believe in the impossible, in the miracle , then in a rational way, to return to reason . I wanted the reader, in turn, to believe in Eden and sweep away his lucubrations. Iris reflects this permanent struggle, sometimes the reader follows it, sometimes not.

Advantages: You have met success in many countries, what makes this story universal according to you?

Benjamin Wood: The Eden Bellwether complex tells a story of love between two young people, a boy who aspires to become someone and a girl who is not very comfortable in his environment. Both want to see beyond their universe. In this we can identify with them. There is also in my novel a metaphysical intrigue , inexplicable and undeniably attractive, for everybody wants at some point in his life to believe in something greater.

Advantages: There is a very cinematic side in your story. Have you thought about an adaptation?

Benjamin Wood: I did not think about it at the time I wrote the book. If when you write your first novel you think of the movie it will do ... you're like Eden , enough. I just believe that I write in a visual way, I like to show my characters acting and reacting together, I do not like long descriptions. It just so happens that the rights have just been bought by the BBC, so there's a chance for The Eden Bellwether Complex to become a movie.