Jeanne Mas: who is Victoria Mas, her daughter who became an essential novelist? -Grazia

If you’re wondering if his name has anything to do with
Jeanne Mas…you are not wrong!
Victoria Mas is indeed the daughter of the French song icon of the 80s – the one to whom we owe the hits Very first timeJohnny, Johnny or even In red and black (we don’t know much about his father, other than that he was a teacher). And it is not in the music that this
“poor singer”as she describes herself, has made a career, but as a talented writer.

Auprés de Paris Matchshe depicts herself as “solitary, very homebody, loving to live in his cave with his trinkets”. His best traveling companions? The books. “I have always wanted to write, since I was little. I grew up fascinated by the figure of the writer, and recognized myself in his solitudespecifies Victoria in Le Pélerin. I felt very good alone, in my room, during my childhood, drawing, reading… Passionate about the novels of Alexandre Dumas, Victor Hugo (her “spiritual father”) or Guy de Maupassant, it’s reading The Lover

by Marguerite Duras, at the age of 17, who pushed her to write.

The atypical journey of Victoria Mas

Born in Chesnay, in Yvelines, she grew up in the south of France, then in Hauts-de-Seine, and finally in California, in the United States, where her mother went to settle. She lived there for eight years, with this idea still inside her, “to return to Franceshe indicates to cloak. I missed my country. And I wanted to write in French, this powerful language. In the United States, I learned a language, a culture, took screenwriting courses. But I also understood how French I was. The cultural references, the humor, everything is different.” During her stay in America, Victoria touched the tip of her finger rêve hollywoodworks on film sets as a production assistant, scriptwriter or still photographer.

When she finally returned to France, she obtained a master’s degree in modern literature at the Sorbonne University. She writes. But his first novels, “too autofictional, were refused”she explains. She does translation to put butter in her spinach. In 2010, however, a first work appeared… in English. Fiction? No ! He is dedicated to his passion for French cuisine. The Farm to Table French
Phrasebook: Master the Culture, Language and Savoir Faire of French
Cuisine is a véritable guide for those who want to familiarize themselves with the culinary and gastronomic habits and customs “made in France”.

The new succès du Fools’ Ball

But his perseverance ends up paying off. After twelve years of frustration, when she is ready to give up on her dreams, Victoria Mas is finally published. With The Fools’ Ballpublished during the summer of 2019, the young woman enjoyed unexpected critical and public success. Crazy even. This novel, inspired by a true story, aims to denounce the condition of “hysterical” women prisoners at Salpétrière in the 19th century.

An absolute hit, in France but not only, the book won the Stanislas prize for the first novel, the Première Plume prize, the Patrimoines BPE prize and the Renaudot prize for high school students. In 2021, it is the subject of a
film adaptation by Mélanie Laurent.
“I was afraid that everything would stop. Everything happened so quickly. My mother was right when she told me that you should never give up and that success takes time to come”she rejoiced in Paris Match in 2025. Recalling that the latter had also persisted in the shadows for almost ten years before breaking through with her song Very first time.

Victoria Mas, a writer who makes her mother proud

Victoria Mas has since released two new novels : A miracle in 2022 and The Orphan of the Temple (on the fate of Marie-Thérèse Charlotte of France, the eldest daughter of Louis XVI) in 2025. “Forgotten or little-known historical facts challenge me and particularly inspire meadmits the writer to France Dimanche. They also inform me about our contemporary world and allow me to observe our current events with hindsight. And paradoxically, the greater the temporal distance, the more I have the feeling of writing intimate novels.”

And if there is one who is proud of her
réussitecest sa mère : “I am very proud of my daughter, of her success as a writer with difficult subjects. Beyond her talent, I am especially proud of the woman she has become”to confié Jeanne Mas au
Parisian in 2026.