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New Year, new name….

10th January 2010 by Helena 12 Comments  

One of the results of making friends with my aunt again is that I am back in the will. I hasten to add that I am only back in the will because she tried to leave her money to my children, bypassing me, but was told they would have to pay inheritance tax. Now my aunt may hate me, but she hates the tax man even more. So back in the will I am.

On one condition; that I add the name Benedetti to mine.

I have always rather liked the name Benedetti and so have no objections to doing this. In fact I have for many years felt not only cheated of my birthright (inheritance from my grandfather which my father blew), but also my roots and Italian family. So it was in cheery spirits that I sat down in front of my laptop to rectify the mishaps of my parents on the deedpoll website.

It suddenly occurred to me as I sat there filling in my new name that I have also always felt rather cheated when it came to my christian name. I only have one. Everyone else I know has at least two, if not three. Some spoilt brats even have four. But I have only ever had Helena. How mean was that?

Never one to let a bargain go I thought ‘why not add another Christian name while I’m here?’ I mean it still costs the same and I may never have the chance again.

Now all that was left to decide was the name. I did not ponder for long. Emily briefly crossed my mind, after my heroine Emily Bronte. Alice is another favourite. But the name that hit me, stronger than any, was that of my favourite (ageing) ballet dancer come literary wife come writer come party girl: the audacious and glorious Zelda Fitzgerald.

So I am now Helena Zelda Benedetti Frith Powell. And not at all eccentric. Now where did I put my pointe shoes….?

Copyright: Helena Frith Powell 2010


Filed Under: Ballet, Family, Italy, blog -->

12 thoughts on New Year, new name....

  • mimi says:
    10th January 2010 at 3:17 pm

    Does that mean a change of blog website, and will the new name be on the new book?
    I like the name Benedetti, it sounds like a Renaissance artist. Or maybe writer?

  • Katariina says:
    10th January 2010 at 3:42 pm

    You didn’t REALLY change your name to all that….?

  • helena says:
    10th January 2010 at 4:01 pm

    Hello Katariina and Mimi
    No plans to change anything else for now, blog and books will remain, but yes, I really did change my name…
    Hx

  • Nina says:
    10th January 2010 at 6:07 pm

    Well done. Concratulations! Sounds like a wonderful name (not that it wasn´t before).

    What a mother wouldn`t do for her clildren – and for the will.

    It looks like I am hooked in your blog, and your books.
    You have the special (good) way of writing about funny things- which makes me laugh, sad things – which makes me think, and true things about life which are worth of writing.

    I am not sure if you told already something about your new book, but could you tell us some tiny little secrets about it? What does is it tell about? Already waiting for the release.

    Nina

  • Patricia says:
    10th January 2010 at 6:23 pm

    Oh I love your new name!
    Just curious, do you have a nickname? Besides Mum of course…

  • Katariina says:
    10th January 2010 at 11:05 pm

    That’s it, I’ve decided to change mine also. I’ve never really liked my name anyway.

    (I know you must think I’m joking but I’m not.)

  • Erika says:
    11th January 2010 at 2:02 am

    Love the name, and I adore Zelda F. so good choice. Here in Hong Kong it is apperently the privelage of chinese people to add an english name to their name and also to change it if they want to. The chinese name stays the same since that has a special meaning.

  • Helena Frith Powell says:
    11th January 2010 at 8:22 am

    Hello girls – yes I do have a nickname: Hels, not very romantic. And Katariina – go girl, it feels great! But I do like your name.
    The novel is about a woman called Sophie who moves to France with her husband and three young children and finds a bra in his bag…then she ends up running the vineyard he was meant to run and is romanced by various gorgeous characters.
    Bye for now
    Hx (aka HZBFP)

  • jose says:
    11th January 2010 at 6:29 pm

    What an idea! I didn’t know it was that easy to change your name at least in the U.K Here in Italy it would be regarded with
    the deepest suspicion and would have to go at least through the
    Court – as you’ve seen with your aunt your own family name gives you your identity and only for dire reasons would you want to fiddle with it, tho’ of course an inheritance is always
    a reason for tacking on someone’s surname! Zelda, I wish I’d
    thought of that, just saying her name conjures up a whole era
    not to mention her poignant life.

  • Arthur says:
    12th January 2010 at 11:32 am

    I like the Benedetti as it has a definite allure and is part of you anyway. Not so sure about Zelda – a whim it would seem. Why not a Swedish name which belongs in some corner of an icy field? But it is your name that is being discussed and you have chosen.

    My wife’s family had to change their name for a castle, but it wasn’t a particularly special one and didn’t look much. Still, it was a sort of castle. I think I might change my name for a bungalow in Balham. Arthur

  • Helena Frith Powell says:
    12th January 2010 at 12:43 pm

    Hello Arthur – I see your point on Zelda but I just love it. What can I say? Do not on any account change your name, and especially not for property in Balham…
    x

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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.

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

 

 

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