Hélène Pascal-Thomas was born in provincial France, later studying journalism in Bordeaux. After working as a journalist in Paris, she moved to London to marry, but became a teacher while yearning to write. Some of her poems were published in Magma, Envoi, etc. She also wrote two plays: The Deal, and Now and Then, as well as a few stories for children.
Her first memoir, Two's Company, published in 2011, a sensitive and often merry journey relating her attempts to find love in her sixties, was a welcome diversion from the painful pilgrimage recalled in her second book.
Writing The Price of Silence became urgent in 2003 following her mother's death, leaving her free to face up to a hidden past. Its publication comes at a time when the sins of the fathers are being exposed and the rights of children continue to be ignored, prompting the author to call for a universal campaign for each of us to make a Promise to respect and protect every child, which concludes the book.
The Promise forms part of this book.