helena frith powell

  • Lifestyle
  • Women
  • Beauty
  • France
  • Contact

Life is a Neapolitan cake

5th June 2008 by Helena 8 Comments  

“I hate Sarkozy,” Leonardo told me this morning. The reason? He makes him go to school. “Does Sarkozy go to school?” he demanded angrily, throwing his Spider-man school bag across the room.

“No,” I said. “He has a job. Either you go to school or you have a job.”

As I said it I realised what a death sentence it sounded. Either school or work. Surely there has to be a third way?

I think in a way there is. A very smart lady from French Glamour magazine who was at the round table talk I attended in Paris summed it up well. She said that life nowadays is not as uniform as it once was. You go through several different stages, almost lives if you like. She called it “a Neapolitan cake life”.

For me, our life in England was one layer of the cake, as was university. Our life in France is another. And very soon we may be moving on to another, rather unusual, layer of cake. I’ll keep you posted.

Copyright: Helena Frith Powell 2008


Filed Under: France, Life, blog --> Tagged With: neapolitan

8 thoughts on Life is a Neapolitan cake

  • Rupert says:
    5th June 2008 at 3:00 pm

    Does this French bint think you can have your cake and eat it? I seem to recall that the last Frenchie who suggested they should all eat cake came to a sticky end…

  • GHCH says:
    5th June 2008 at 3:43 pm

    Ah, la belle Marie et sa brioche. Let’s not forget that she also offered her breast to shape the Champagne glass still so popular in Manchester and Leeds.

  • Jo says:
    5th June 2008 at 6:39 pm

    I need to know what the next layer is!!

  • sharyn G says:
    5th June 2008 at 10:07 pm

    I agree with Rupert. Why disillusion the young now? Save the dire truth for a later date when you really need it.

    Sharyn G

  • Letizia says:
    6th June 2008 at 1:41 pm

    I sort of agree…life is made of different layers. it’s not just a big one, but several…Well, it is my opinion anyway.
    i’m curious now, what’s your new layer?? dont keep us waiting!
    L x x

  • gillie says:
    6th June 2008 at 5:00 pm

    Life as a bowl of cherries or neopolitan cake ….. give me the cake any day! Looking forward to hearing about your next layer.

  • Miko says:
    6th June 2008 at 9:53 pm

    Helena, remember the Swedish saying ” If you say A you have to say B” ……
    Are you entering a cream layer?

  • Hazel says:
    12th June 2008 at 2:00 pm

    I just want to know where I can get a slice of the cake in the picture?

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Helena Frith Powell was born in Sweden to a Swedish mother and Italian father, but grew up mainly in England. She is the author of eleven books, translated into several languages including Chinese and Russian. She wrote the French Mistress column The Sunday Times about life in France for several years. She is a regular contributor to the Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday, The Times, Daily Telegraph, Tatler Magazine and Harper’s Bazaar.

Helena has been the editor of four magazines, including M Magazine, a supplement for the Abu Dhabi-based National Newspaper and FIVE, a high-end fashion glossy, also published in Abu Dhabi. Helena was also editor-in-chief of 360 Life, a quarterly glossy magazine published with the Sports 360 Newspaper in Dubai, part of the Chalhoub Group.

Helena contributes regularly to UK-based newspapers and magazines and holds a Masters in Creative Writing from the University of Cambridge. She is working on a thriller set in Sweden as well as a novel about the relationship between Virginia Woolf and Katherine Mansfield called Sense of an Echo.

In 2022 her short story The Japanese Gardener came second in the Fish Publishing Short Story Prize. One of her stories was also shortlisted for the Bridport Short Story Prize. When she’s not writing, she works as a headhunter for the media and entertainment industry for the Sucherman Group. 

Helena, who was educated at Durham University, lives in the Languedoc region of France with her husband Rupert and their three children.

Bibliography

More France Please, we’re British; Gibson Square 2004

Two Lipsticks and a Lover 2005; Gibson Square (hardback)

All You Need to be Impossibly French; (US version of above) Penguin 2006

Two Lipsticks and a Lover; Arrow Books (paperback) 2007

Ciao Bella Gibson Square; (hardback) 2006

Ciao Bella Gibson Square; (paperback) 2007

So Chic! (French version of Two Lipsticks) Leduc Editions 2008 (also translated into Chinese, Russian and Thai)

More, More France; Gibson Square 2009

To Hell in High Heels; Arrow Books 2009 (also translated into Polish)

The Viva Mayr Diet; Harper Collins 2009

Love in a Warm Climate; Gibson Square 2011

The Ex-Factor; Gibson Square 2013

Smart Women Don’t Get Wrinkles; Gibson Square 2016

The Arnolfini Marriage; Amazon Kindle December 2016

Smart Women Don’t Get Wrinkles (paperback); Gibson Square spring 2018

The Longest Night; Gibson Square spring 2019

 

 

© 2023 Helena Frith Powell
Website by Web Inclusion
/* ----------------------------------------- */ /* Content Template: content-template-for-layout-for-header-and-footer-layout - start */ /* ----------------------------------------- */ .helenaHero .mainTitle h1{ font-size:3em; -webkit-transition: all 0.8s; -moz-transition: all 0.8s; -ms-transition: all 0.8s; -o-transition: all 0.8s; transition: all 0.8s; margin-top:-100%; padding-top:100px; padding-bottom:50px; margin:0; } .scrolled .helenaHero .mainTitle h1{ font-size:1.2em; padding-top:30px; padding-bottom:20px; } /* ----------------------------------------- */ /* Content Template: content-template-for-layout-for-header-and-footer-layout - end */ /* ----------------------------------------- */ /* ----------------------------------------- */ /* Content Template: 17hfp_about - start */ /* ----------------------------------------- */ .HFPA-section{ width:100%; background:#eee; } .HFPA-Image{ background-position:center right; background-repeat:no-repeat; height:276px; width:100%; -webkit-filter: grayscale(100%); /* Safari 6.0 - 9.0 */ filter: grayscale(100%); } .HFPA-Text{ padding:20px 10px; } /* ----------------------------------------- */ /* Content Template: 17hfp_about - end */ /* ----------------------------------------- */ /* ----------------------------------------- */ /* Content Template: 17footer - start */ /* ----------------------------------------- */ .footIt{ background:#222; padding:20px 10px; } /* ----------------------------------------- */ /* Content Template: 17footer - end */ /* ----------------------------------------- */