Paris 1935:  Destiny's Crossroads

          "A beautiful widow...a charming diplomat"

In the darkening years of the 1930s, the beautiful Madame Lambert meets American diplomat Dexter Jones at the Quai d’Orsay. She works on the staff of French Premier Pierre Laval. Dedicated to her work, the austere widow resists romance while becoming increasingly intrigued with the charming diplomat as he escorts her to political and literary salons across the vibrant Left Bank cultural scene. Romance ripens into enduring commitment against a backdrop of momentous historical events as the French government attempts to contain the Ethiopian crisis at the League of Nations while countering the rising Nazi threat to remilitarize the German Rhineland.

 

Madame Lambert witnesses first-hand the British-French diplomatic meetings between Premier Laval and British foreign secretary Sir Samuel Hoare that collapse in controversy over ending the Italo-Ethiopian war. Shortly afterwards, she is in the room when the French government bogs down with indecision over responding to Hitler’s march into the Rhineland, the key to preserving France’s alliances with its East European allies.

 

Cameo appearances by Colonel Charles DeGaulle, André Malraux, Sylvia Beach, Adrienne Monnier, André Chamson, and journalists Genevieve Tabouis and Pertinax.

 

See caricatures by Joss to the left.

 

Link to author interview at Kindle Author.

 

Reviews

 

 

Paris in the 1930's

Paris 1934: Victory in Retreat

" Richly detailed description brings Sandrine's Paris to life... lively bistro scenes...the 'City of Light' shines through the page."

     -- Historical Novel Society review August 2010.

 

"Paris romance...dark intrigues...momentous political events"

 

In Depression-era France, Sorbonne student Sandrine covers news and fashion as a part-time reporter for an American paper in Paris. She banters with the Americans after work at the local bistro as red wine flows and stories grow in the telling. Early in 1934, with public outrage at government corruption peaking, she witnesses massive street riots by Far Right leagues that overthrow two French cabinets in a row. The very existence of the Third Republic is threatened. Then one bold man prevails against the forces of disorder.

 

Reviews

 

Romance and international intrigue

Vienna, 1934. As the Austrian government slides towards an Italian-style fascist state, German-backed Nazis move to overthrow Chancellor Dollfuss’s government and deliver Austria to Hitler’s Reich. British foreign correspondent Geoffrey Ashbrook returns to Vienna to write dispatches for his London paper and secret reports for the British cabinet. But Ashbrook has a second secret mission: to find out why his fiancée Anna Marie Linden has mysteriously broken off their engagement. Is her Nazi stepbrother Erich involved? All paths cross on a day in July as Nazi putschists ride their trucks through the streets of Vienna towards the Ballplatz, the square in front of the Austrian chancellery, a day that changes the destiny of nations and people in this exciting book of accurate historical event and dashing fictional romance.

In 1928, world famous British author W. Somerset Maugham moved into a sumptuous villa on twelve gardened acres on Cap Ferrat on the French Riviera. Maugham’s marriage to his wife Syrie was behind him; his secretary and companion Gregory Haxton was with him. Syrie, disappointed at coming in number two, had threatened to name Gregory in the divorce action. All was settled peaceably by the solicitors in London. Maugham lived at his beloved Villa Mauresque until his death in 1965 except for the war years. This long essay highlights a fascinating life lived on the Riviera.