We know almost nothing about her, except that she signs “Sarah Rivens”, without her real surname having ever been revealed, and that she is the administrative manager of a sports hall in Algiers. … She has been posting since she was 19 on the story-sharing platform Wattpad.
It was there, under the nickname “theblurredgirl” (“the blurred girl”), that she became a star, chapter after chapter, with millions of readings (9 million today).
All commented, analyzed, carried by millions of fans and videos on social networks, mainly Instagram and #Booktok (TikTok’s global book club).
In short, Sarah Rivens is a precipitate of the time and beyond the digital phenomenon, the physical version of her saga no longer leaves the top of fiction sales.
Between the Pierre Lemaitre and others, when it was released at the end of January, volume 2 of “Captive” even ranked directly number 1 in all categories, dethroning the “Memoirs” of Prince Harry!
Not bad for a publication already available online for free.
For the 2 volumes of “Captive”, plus the intermediate volume, the French publisher – namely “BMR” Hachette’s “romance without complex” label – has already printed 1.5 million copies and translated the saga into 9 languages. We will know that we can count on the famous generation Z to support the book market – the very one who would be addicted to screens and unable to open a book…
Yes, but what are they looking for in these particular books?
It’s “dark romance“: be careful, it’s violent, it must not be “cute”. The heart of the readership is between 18 and 25 years old, and is passionate about Ella, “captive” of a mafia network, the Scotts, who will be delivered to Asher, a violent handsome guy who will humiliate her. Except that the two individuals that everything opposes will bind feelings.
A toxic relationship, the girl falls in love with her attacker, it’s not very 21st century, except that young readers can make, in fiction, other moral or political arbitrations, than in reality.
Moreover, the main literary quality of this saga is to make “captives” precisely. We will find arguments like “I was spellbound from start to finish” in the video comments of readers on TikTok! But also confessions of “parents” on Babelio, frightened by the subject and the style, but obliged to recognize that it is addictive.
From her gym in Algiers, the author “Sarah Rivens” will therefore have opened a discussion between generations and hooked a new audience to reading. Captivating!
Translated from : https://www.radiofrance.fr/franceinter/podcasts/un-monde-nouveau/un-monde-nouveau-du-mardi-14-mars-2023-5472161
