132: Clémence Michallon (Our Last Resort)

Charlie and Clémence Michallon (Our Last Resort) discuss Clémence's epic multi-thousand-a-day writing streak and how she cuts sentences that don't work, often not replacing them, also Charlie's discomfort with the idea of the morally grey aspect of the novel and Clémence's thoughts that we think of morality in the context of the book/show, and fictional pets staying alive beyond the pages.

Please note that the book under discussion is about a murder.

Books mentioned by name or extensively:
Clémence Michallon: The Quiet Tenant
Clémence Michallon: Our last Resort
Tyler Keevil: Your Still Beating Heart

Release details: recorded 8th August 2025; published 10th November 2025

Where to find Clémence online: Website || Instagram

Where to find Charlie online: Website || Instagram || TikTok

Discussions

01:51 All about the title itself - Our Last Resort
04:07 The inspiration for the book
08:59 Talking about narratives and perspectives, which includes Clémence noting her previous book, The Quiet Tenant
11:41 The importance of using and including detail about the cult that is a part of Our Last Resort's in-the-past timeline
14:09 Did Clémence always known that Frida would be the person who'd committed the original murder? And how Clémence completely redrafted her novel
19:36 Clémence's use of italic text for particular categories of Frida's thoughts
22:38 Clémence likes the second person!
24:03 Clémence's chapter headings - the X day, and, in the past narrative X years ago
27:58 The effective themes of family and siblings in the book, including in the cult
32:34 What can we see happening in Frida and Gabriel's futures?
36:02 ...And then we discuss what might happen to Frida's dog beyond the last pages and get into a discussion on pets and death in fiction
39:25 Annie and the morally grey questions Charlie has about that character's choices
46:04 Joan, the local retail employee who becomes the first non-cult person Frida and Gabriel meet and who we find out later was killed off the page
47:18 Both of Clémence's books are being adapted for television!
48:21 Asking Clémence about how she goes about cutting sentences that don't work, as per Charlie's research
52:19 What Clémence is writing now

Photo credit: Gabrielle Malewski