Wednesday 15th June 2016

Welcome to another in my occasional series featuring writers who cover other countries. Today's the turn of the wonderful Vanessa Couchman. Interestingly, although she lives in France, she loves to write about that magical island, Corsica. Here is Vanessa, holding her successful book The House of Zaronza (buy links at the end).  What is it about Corsica that she finds so captivating? Read on.

Captivated by Corsica

The Greeks called it Kalliste, ‘the beautiful one’. The epithet has stuck and Corsica is known today as l’Ile de Beauté.

I fell in love with this beguiling Mediterranean island more than a decade ago. As the ferry approached, a looming shape detached itself from the haze and anticipation rippled through the passengers. We rushed to the railings to get a first glimpse of this chunk of granite that rises nine thousand feet above the sea at its highest point. One long mountain range runs from north to south, like the spine of a sleeping prehistoric monster.

Corsicans claim that the aromatic scent of its hillside vegetation, the maquis, reaches well out to sea. Did I catch that fragrance or was it just wishful thinking? It doesn’t matter. I was already smitten.

We disembarked at Ajaccio, a bustling place where traffic hurtles down narrow streets that were not designed for it. The birthplace of Corsica’s most famous son, Napoleon Bonaparte, it has an almost Italianate feel to it. Sitting at a café on the Cours Napoléon, we watched the Corsicans stroll about during their evening passeggiata. 

Many of the coastal towns are picturesque and colourful but they are havens for sun-seeking tourists. So we turned our backs on them in search of the real Corsica. We made for Corte, as we have done ever since, in the central mountains. Once the capital of Corsica’s only independent republic in the 18^th century, the town now has a faded grandeur and some of the elegant townhouses are in a state of decay.
The island is noted for its majestic scenery. The switchback roads snake into the mountains with sheer drops on one side. Often, they are wide enough for only one vehicle. They are not for the faint-hearted, especially as Corsican drivers aren’t noted for their prudence. Scrawny cows that graze freely on the mountainside amble along the roads, presenting an extra hazard.
Corsica is much more than a scenic place to spend a holiday. It also has a fascinating history and culture, deriving from its strategic position in the Mediterranean and its island customs. It has been fought over, won and lost countless times over the centuries. Periodic but badly-organised rebellions failed to dislodge its conquerors.
Despite their dislike of foreign rulers, Corsicans have never been able to agree among themselves for long. Clan and family rivalries and intrigues are the foundation of Corsican society. The themes of honour, murder and vendetta run like a bloody fault line through the island’s history.
All this makes Corsica an ideal place to set stories – and some of its real-life tales are the stuff of novels. As luck would have it, during one visit we ventured into Cap Corse, the finger-shaped peninsula at the northern tip of the island. In a B&B at Nonza, overlooking the sea, I saw the love letters that inspired my novel. The owners had found them walled up in the attic when they restored the house. What better gift for a novelist?


So, Vanessa, can you tell us something about yourself and your career so far?


I’ve lived in southwest France since 1997 and work as a freelance writer. I am passionate about French and Corsican history and culture, which provide inspiration for much of my fiction. My debut novel, The House at Zaronza, is set in early 20th-century Corsica and at the Western Front during World War I. A sequel set in World War II and another novel set in 18th-century Corsica are in the pipeline. I also write short stories.

How did you incorporate your love of Corsica into your writing?  

The House at Zaronza is set in early 20th-century Corsica and at the Western Front during the First World War. It follows the fortunes of Maria Orsini, a young woman from a bourgeois family, who lives in a Corsican village with her parents. She and the village schoolteacher fall in love but have to carry on their relationship in secret, since her parents would disapprove. Maria’s parents have other plans for her future and she sees her dreams crumble. The novel follows her story up to and beyond World War I, when she becomes a nurse at the Front. This is a novel about love, loss and reconciliation in a strict patriarchal society, whose values are challenged as the world changes.

Sounds wonderful. How do we buy it and find out more about yourself?

House at Zaronza universal buy link: http://getbook.at/Zaronza
France blog: http://vanessafrance.wordpress.com
Writing website: http://vanessacouchmanwriter.wordpress.com
Amazon author page: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Vanessa-Couchman/e/B00LQM4T9O/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1 
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/houseatzaronza.vanessacouchman 
Twitter: @Vanessainfrance


Thanks Vanessa for giving us a glimpse of your writing!

Wednesday 4 May 2016

Bienvenue a tous!  Welcome to my new, occasional, international Wednesday blog, where I hope to feature authors writing about various countries. Today I'm delighted to welcome fellow-Crooked Cat author, Angela Wren. 




Stirred on by the release of my own latest work, VICHYSSOISE, about WWII, Angela reminisces about Her Grandfather’s car…

It was a sultry August afternoon at the archives.  The tedium level at ceiling height until an elderly lady walked in.
‘That’s my grandfather in his chauffeur’s uniform,’ she said shoving a faded photograph into my hands.  ‘He drove all the big stars to the film premiers in the thirties, you know.  Kay Francis, Myrna Loy and he even drove Gregory Peck once.’  I was lost in a sea of satin, silk and fur and expensive perfume as I pictured her grandfather driving through the most fashionable streets of London…photographers’ flash bulbs as he drew up at…
’Montgomery,’ she said shattering my daydream.  ‘He drove Field Marshall Montgomery during the war, when he was in London.’
I was sceptical.  ‘Surely not.  Montgomery would have had his own batman, wouldn’t he?’
‘General De Gaulle too,’ she continued with pride.  ‘And I was wondering if you could find the car and the proof for me.’  She smiled sweetly as though the task were as simple as popping out to the corner shop.
 With nothing other than the photo, the registration number (GU1909), a name (William James Norton), dates of birth, death and marriage, and an address in Colliers Wood, I had very little else to help me.
The DVLA website responded with ‘Not recognised’.  A second email prompted a bald : ‘Try sending the photo to a car magazine.’  So I did.  Christmas came and went without a response.  A cold February day and I decided I needed a different approach.
I spent the next month at the newspaper archive looking at articles about De Gaulle.  There were many covering his time, June 1940 –1944, in London.  But I couldn’t spot William Norton in the background of any of the pictures in the papers.
Then a phone discussion with Amy, his granddaughter, led me down a new path and a myriad of emails to all the car museums in GB.  The response?   ‘That registration is not in our collection.’  However, I was able to narrow the make to Trojan, Wolseley or Austin.  I phoned my client, but there was no reply.
It was April when an unexpected email turned up.  William Norton’s car was ‘a Wolseley E4 12/32 hp, probably a 4 cylinder saloon with a coach-built body and registered in London between March and May 1929,’ it said.  I read further and my euphoria dissipated.  ‘Sorry we can not help with the registered owner – vehicle registration would have been undertaken by the London dealer.’
I called Amy but again there was no reply.  So I was left to think out what to do next. More Internet searches and three weeks later I was in Teddington browsing through the archives of ‘Autocar’ – the oldest surviving car magazine in the country.  Four hours later I knew that William’s vehicle was coach built with a fabric interior, non-dazzle lights, electric horn and the latest in vibrationless suspension.  It retailed at the time for £315 and for an extra £12 10s you could have Triplex Glass and, the sole London dealer was Eustace Watkins, Chelsea.
Files at the National Archives confirmed that the registration was issued in July 1928 for use from August 1st that year.  A tube to the London Metropolitan Archives and the registers for the licensing and taxation of vehicles and...the register for the GU series was lost.
Home again and I phoned Amy, but her son picked up the call.  His mother had died the previous month, he explained.
‘All that about my great-grandfather,‘ he said.  ‘They're just stories you know.’
Perhaps they were, I thought as I looked at the photo of William James Norton for the millionth time.  But the journey’s been fascinating.
------

I was delighted when Angela's own novel was published by Crooked Cat. It's a novel featuring France, where I live, and so a subject dear to my heart.

Here's Angela, in her own words, telling us something about herself.

Having followed a career in Project and Business Change Management, I now work as an Actor and Director at a local theatre.  I’ve been writing, in a serious way, for about 5 years.  My work in project management has always involved drafting, so writing, in its various forms, has been a significant feature throughout my adult life.
 I particularly enjoy the challenge of plotting and planning different genres of work.  My short stories vary between contemporary romance, memoir, mystery and historical.  I also write comic flash-fiction and have drafted two one-act plays that have been recorded for local radio.  The majority of my stories are set in France where I like to spend as much time as possible each year.

Can you give us a taster about your wonderful novel, Messandrierre?

Sacrificing his job in investigation following a shooting in Paris, Jacques Forêt has only a matter of weeks to solve a series of mysterious disappearances as a rural gendarme.  Will he find the perpetrators before his lover, Beth, becomes a victim? 
But, as the number of missing rises, his difficult and hectoring boss puts obstacles in his way.  Steely and determined Jacques won't give up and, when a new Investigating Magistrate is appointed, he becomes the go-to local policeman for all the work on the case.

I've already read and reviewed Messandrierre, so can tell all readers that it's a lovely, atmospheric read about rural France.  How can readers buy it Angela?

Messandrierre

A mystery novel set in France, available in e-book format from :

Amazon : Amazon

Website : www.angelawren.co.uk

Blog : www.jamesetmoi.blogspot.com

Thanks Angela for being the first guest on my new Wednesday, international feature. Good luck with your writing!

8 November 2015

It's a time of remembrance. Wednesday will be the day we remember all those who lost their lives in the terrible massacre that is war. My father always said if no-one remembers you, what's the point of living?  Three days ago in the UK everyone recalled 'remember, remember the 5th of November'. For me, though, the 5th will be remembered for another reason:  I received fantastic news from Crooked Cat, the publishers of my book '3rd Degree Murder': 'We are thrilled to announce a two-book deal with author Olga Swan for two World War II novels, Underneath the Lamplight (the lead up to 1938) and Vichyssoise (1938 onwards). Uncomfortable, revealing and dark, the continuing story of David Klein will keep you hooked. Welcome again Olga!' It was amazing timing because my reasons for writing both these new novels were to remind everyone about how past wars happened. The first book 'Lamplight' takes character David Klein from boyhood in 1912 to 1938 Breslau, Germany; the second 'Vichyssoise' is, I believe, unique as the same character traces the inner workings of the Vichy Government. It's not just war and the fallen we must remember: it's how it happened so that man never makes the same mistake again. Watch this space for when these two new books are released in 2016. Thank you everyone for your support with my writing. Much appreciated.