helena frith powell

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The feather or the chicken?

2nd September 2007

I find myself in the Hotel Amour in the red light district of Paris. My room is called the Library room, the far wall is lined with French porn books and magazines. The remaining walls are painted black and the only piece of furniture in the room is a …

An ideal to die for

30th August 2007

Olivia and I have been listening to a CD of African music. One of the songs begins with a quote from Nelson Mandela. “I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities …

You just can’t get the staff these days…

28th August 2007

I have a new ironing lady. She is around four foot tall and very pretty but she refuses to do the sheets or put the clothes away. If I ever complain about the quality of her ironing she shoots me a stern look and tells me to be quiet. My new ironing la …

This yob-rule must end

26th August 2007

I once read somewhere that when children start killing children it is the end of the world. In Liverpool last week an 11-year-old-boy was gunned down as he played in a park, apparently by a 13-year-old youth. When I was in England last week it seemed t …

And the right answer is….

23rd August 2007

Last night at dinner Olivia asked Leo and Bea how many children they were going to have. “Three,” said Bea. “Called Manon, Rupert and Helena.” “What if you have three boys?” asked Olivia “Doesn’t matter,” said Bea. Leo rather worryingly announced he wa …

Who has the best deal here?

21st August 2007

Here is one of my favourite poems by Dorothy Parker: By the time you swear you’re his, Shivering and sighing, And he vows his passion is Infinite, undying Lady, make a note of this: One of you is lying. The reason this came to mind today was not that I …

Heathcliff’s verdict

19th August 2007

My mother has lived in Devon for almost twenty years but moves to Italy in September. I am sad not to have a reason to come here any more. Despite the dreadful weather (the sun has been out for a total of seven minutes during the last four days which I …

Save the Tiverton Tivoli

16th August 2007

When I was a little girl, my mother and I lived in a small village close to Uppsala in Sweden. Our flat was above a cinema called the Red Mill. I went to every film that was shown (even if they were 18s, no one seemed to mind). It was there I saw unfor …

My Tiffany’s

14th August 2007

One of my favourite films ever is Breakfast at Tiffany’s. It is the only reason Olivia was originally named Holly. Once we moved to France we changed her name. In fact I had doubts straight after the initial euphoria of the birth. And in French Holly s …

The return of Heathcliff

11th August 2007

“Come to lunch,” he said. “My wife is away.” Whereas when we last saw each other twenty years ago this might have been an invitation to spend the afternoon in bed, now that we’re middle-aged it was not my body Heathcliff was after, but my children. His …

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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.

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