Four Books for a Chalet Evening, Chosen by Novelist Sarah Séguigne

2026-10-05

By Thomas, Founder of OFF-PISTE

The best hour of a ski day often comes after the skiing. Boots off, a blanket over the knees, the fire going, and nobody in a hurry to be anywhere. It is also the hour when most people realize they packed the wrong book, or none at all.

So we asked someone who knows that hour well. Sarah Séguigne is a novelist who lives in the Vallée d’Abondance, in the French Alps, and writes feel-good novels set in the mountains. She chose four books for a chalet evening, one for each mood, all meant, in her words, to be read under a good throw by the fire.

Sarah spent several years in marketing before giving herself permission to write full time. Since 2020 she has published novels rooted in the Alps, built around one idea she calls Révèle ton étincelle: reveal your spark. Her first two novels have gathered more than 300 reader reviews, with an average rating of 4.5 out of 5. She writes from an old Savoyard chalet, and also runs writing workshops, coaching and creative retreats in Haute-Savoie.¹

A personal note: I know Sarah well, and that is exactly why I asked her. To me, she represents the way the mountains are meant to be lived, every day and not only on vacation, and enjoyed to the fullest. You can see that life on her Instagram, @sarah_seguigne.

Her selection reflects that: books that make you want to go further, look inward, travel or simply unwind. Here they are.

Adventure

Conquering the Impossible

Mike Horn, 2007 in English

French original: Conquérant de l’impossible (2005). Available in English.

Mike Horn is a South African-born Swiss explorer, and this is the story of Arktos, the expedition that made his name: between 2002 and 2004 he circled the Arctic, roughly 12,000 miles, alone and without any motorized transport, by boat, kayak, kite-ski and on foot, through Greenland, Canada, Alaska and Siberia.² The English edition followed in 2007.³

Sarah’s pick for the adventurous reader, and an odd kind of comfort after a cold day on the mountain: whatever your legs went through, his went through more.

Personal growth

The Man Who Wanted to Be Happy

Laurent Gounelle, 2008

French original: L’homme qui voulait être heureux (2008). Available in English.

Julian, on vacation in Bali, meets an old healer who shows him, conversation after conversation, how the beliefs he holds about himself keep him from the life he wants. Published in France in 2008, it went to number one in French sales and was translated into many languages.⁴ It is available in English from Hay House.⁵

Sarah describes it as accessible personal growth, a book that helps you grow. Short chapters, easy to pick up and put down, which suits a week when the evenings belong to whoever is around the table.

Escape

Chasing the Stars

Virginie Grimaldi, 2018

French original: Il est grand temps de rallumer les étoiles (2018). Available in English.

Anna, a single mother short on money and on time with her two teenage daughters, spends her severance on a camper van instead of her debts and drives the three of them north through Scandinavia to chase the Northern Lights. The story is told in three voices: Anna’s, the blog of seventeen-year-old Chloé and the diary of twelve-year-old Lily.⁶ Grimaldi has for several years ranked among the most-read novelists in France.⁷

Sarah’s vacation read: easy, warm, and the kind of book that takes you somewhere else. She adds that it may speak to women first. Then again, a family road trip is a family road trip.

Cozy mystery

The Agatha Raisin series

M.C. Beaton, 1992 onward

Written in English. First title: Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death (1992).

Agatha Raisin sells her London public relations firm, takes early retirement and moves to Carsely, a fictional Cotswolds village, where she promptly finds herself solving murders. The first book came out in 1992, the series now runs to more than thirty titles, and it was adapted for television with Ashley Jensen in the lead.⁸

The rare pick on this list written in English to begin with. Sharp, funny and never too dark, it is exactly the kind of series you can leave on a chalet shelf for the next guest to find.

Sarah Séguigne’s novels

Sarah’s own books are written in French, all three set in the mountains she lives in:

• Le sentier où mènent tes rêves (2020). Charlie leaves her apartment, her boyfriend and her after-work drinks behind for a fifteen-day mountain trek.
• Quand la neige se teinte de rose (2024). A family ski holiday at Christmas, turned upside down by a mysterious gift.
• La route des grands rêves (October 29, 2026). A bachelorette weekend that becomes a road trip across the Alps, published by La Fontaine de Siloé.

You can find them, and her workshops, on sarahseguigne.com, and follow her mountain life on Instagram at @sarah_seguigne.

A ski week has more evenings than most people plan for. If you’re staying with us, tell your concierge what you like to read: we’re always happy to share what our guests and friends in the Alps recommend.