Sophie Buchaillard is a freelance writer, poet and essayist, and the author of two novels: Assimilation, which explores the impact of family secrets and what it means to belong, through three generations of women; and This is Not Who We Are, the story of two-teenage pen-friends during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. Sophie has been shortlisted for the Bridport Poetry Prize and the Wales Book of the Year. Her debut poetry pamphlet is due in October 2025. She is currently working on her third novel.
WHAT OTHERS SAID
A truly clever and heart racing depiction of the human condition in one of it rawest forms. Assimilation asks what we all face at some junction in our lives - where do I belong? Where do I fit in?
An overwhelmingly beautiful story that takes us around the world and through time in a unique way. A credit to the talent and mind of Sophie Buchaillard..
A story from the past with clear relevance in our current climate, Buchaillard holds up a mirror and asks us to reflect on the consequences of our own choices.’
Connor Allen, The Making of a Monster (Former Children Laureate for Wales)
Assimilation is a perceptive and compelling novel that invites the reader to seek out new ways of negotiating the labyrinth of personal and cultural identity. Sophie Buchaillard weaves her tale with skill and acumen, offering rare insights into migration, foreignness, family, and much else besides.
Richard Gwyn, The Colour of a Dog Running Away
Assimilation
ABOUT ASSIMILATION
One family's story set against the backdrop of some of the biggest political and humanitarian events of the century.
A tale of unravelling family secrets, belonging, betrayal and inherited trauma, Assimilation will transport readers in time and place through one family’s history and struggle.
Charlotte, young and fiercely independent, desperately needs to escape the confines of her mother, Marianne’s expectations and a dreadful trauma. She leaves France and arrives in Wales, hoping to find peace and somewhere to rebuild her life.
Marianne, a mother with a colourful past, keeping a terrible secret, tries her best to conform to French middle class expectations.
In this stunning new novel, Buchaillard takes us on an adventure pursuing spies, drug dealers and even a talking bear.
AMAZON REVIEWS
The propulsive writing style is a joy to read in this easy-to-devour yet nourishing novel with its spartan yet incisive language and thoroughly engrossing multi-layered storylines of family, memory, and immigration—highly recommended!
O. Uyanik
Assimilation, by Sophie Buchaillard is a beautifully rendered novel that captures the essence of identity and belonging through its sensory richness. Reading this book felt like flipping through a photo album; each scene a snapshot of a life in transition, brought to life through Buchaillard’s extraordinary storytelling.
Siobhan
The writing is sharp here, across different times and places and the threads that seem disconnected and knotted start to pull together in a tightly structured novel that underlines a sense, ultimately, of connection, more than separation. The discrete short chapter titles did it for me, and so many of these chapters can stand alone as small explosions of flash fiction or prose poetry.
Anthony
This is Not Who We Are
(Seren Books)
Shortlisted for the Wales Book of the Year 2023
In 1994 a young Rwandan woman and her brothers are caught up in the violent chaos that follows the assassination of the President. Meanwhile, in the present day, Iris – a journalist with a young family – searches obsessively for traces of Victoria, the pen-friend who disappeared during the Rwandan genocide thirty years before. As their lives interweave, both women have ghosts and secrets to confront, and must decide how to take responsibility for the past.
This is Not Who We Are blends elements of fiction and autobiography to explore vastly different perspectives on the tragedy of Rwanda and the experience of migration. The book is deeply compassionate and clear-sighted, and asks uncomfortable questions about European culpability for the violence while never losing sight of the human complexities of its characters.
Watch Sophie talk about her characters, the process of writing This Is Not Who We Are, and the context in which Iris and Victoria started their correspondence.
A multi-layered and very moving novel about the Rwandan genocide and the culpability of the French government. The central idea of pen friends whose letter-writing is disrupted by war feels original and offers a fruitful way into this complex subject matter. An excellent debut and I can't wait to see what Sophie Buchaillard writes next.
Katherine Stansfield, author of The Visitor and The Magpie Tree
This is a powerfully empathetic and sensitive book, which reserves its real rage for the ideological fanatics who deliberately mutate anger at oppression into a specious salvationist enterprise, hate-fuelled, directed at other victims of that same oppression.
Niall Griffiths, author of Broken Ghosts
“There is no doubt that This is Not Who We Are will resonate with anyone who is interested in exploring topics such as identity, otherness, and the power of language, as well as those simply seeking a poignant and thought-provoking novel.”
Aline Moura, The Cardiff Review
News/events
Journal
Mentoring
Formerly the director of coaching company Creative Confidence Consulting, Sophie is passionate about supporting others in developing their creative career.
She offers mentoring sessions for writers looking for support in planning and developing a writing project. For further details, get in touch using the contact page.