Secrets and Showgirls
Page 44
‘Monsieur, you had no choice. Had you refused, they would have closed you down and then what would have happened to all of us? And besides, we had a little resistance cell, right here at Le Prix. Mademoiselle Gris and Madame Gartrille will speak up for you if you are accused of helping the Germans. And you know Lena also worked for the resistance — she was telling us the truth.’ Maurice looked up sharply.
‘She was?’
‘Yes, she was Monsieur Metzinger’s forger, but she also forged papers for the resistance.’
‘Ah, so she was a forger — and a resister. What an extraordinary young woman.’ Maurice shook his head in disbelief at the quiet courage of the frail, wistful Lena.
‘And,’ Madame Gloria had not quite finished her account of Maurice’s good deeds. ‘Don’t forget, you also sheltered Roland, who was distributing illegal tracts, a British soldier, a French soldier, a communist, a Hungarian, a Pole and a gypsy.’ Maurice ran a hand over his mouth. When faced with the bald facts, he had to admit that he had taken on more than his fair share of the city’s illegals.
‘And you did all this while entertaining the German Governor and hundreds of German officers several times a week.’ Now Maurice was beginning to perspire, recalling the feeling that, at any time of the night or day, he could have been arrested and flung into a cell in Fresnes Prison, or taken to the rue de Saussaies and tortured horribly before being executed. Not only was his own life at stake, but that of every man and woman in his little company. Truly it had been a taxing existence. He returned his gaze to Madame Gloria and adopted a thoughtful tone.
‘I think, Madame, next time an occupying army threatens to march into Paris, I will follow the excellent example of our accountant, Monsieur Six, and take a long holiday in Portugal.’ They clinked glasses again. Their war was over.
Author’s note
While Le Prix d’Amour and its collection of colourful characters are purely figments of my imagination, the cabarets of Paris were certainly confronted with the challenge of surviving the four-year occupation by the Germans, referred to by many as a period of ‘darkness’. There are very few English-language sources that describe precisely how they managed this, although there are possibly a number published in French that have yet to be translated for an English readership. However there is one very fine volume by former American cultural correspondent Alan Riding that describes not only the battle to survive fought by those who danced, sang and performed, but the struggle of all artists and writers and those who managed the cultural institutions during the dark days of the occupation. And the Show went on: Cultural Life in Nazi-Occupied Paris is the best source I encountered during my research and one I would highly recommend to all readers keen to understand more about the lives of those at the cultural heart of an occupied city.
For those inspired to read more on the extraordinary events of the liberation of Paris, Matthew Cobb’s superb Eleven Days in August presents a meticulously researched, extremely detailed and highly entertaining account. Likewise, Is Paris Burning?, the very readable and fast-paced volume by Dominic Lapierre and Larry Collins is well worth perusing. The film of the book is likewise splendidly evocative and thoroughly compelling viewing.
The villain of Champagne and Curfews, Paul Colbert, is based on a real-life traitor named Paul Cole (just one of several aliases he is known to have used) whose mind-boggling deeds comprise a grim litany of villainy. His story is told in Brendan Murphy’s brilliantly researched Turncoat, and makes astonishing reading, all the more because it is entirely true.
Acknowledgements
As always, I owe an enormous debt of gratitude to those who contributed so much to the writing and production of this book. My readers, former diplomat Catherine Johnstone, whose knowledge of French and advice on the technical aspects of writing were invaluable, and former music and language teacher, Lesa Wegner, whose careful insights and comments on structure, plot and detail were instrumental in my refining of the story, proved their worth once again. Without their perceptive suggestions, this book would certainly have been far less polished and my satisfaction with the final product far less complete.
My daughter, Siobhan, a professional dancer, also provided crucial advice on the dance scenes, equipping me with the working vocabulary of the dancer and, more importantly, the dance mistress, and helped me to bring Madame Claudette and the showgirls to life. She listened patiently as I quizzed her over dance movements and routines and supplied enormously helpful answers that ensured the dance aspects of the story were anchored in fact.
My husband, Terry, and our two other children, Erin and Kieran, also lent their support and advice as I sounded them out over the various twists and turns in the plot. Terry, in particular, demonstrated extraordinary patience as I disappeared in the evenings to work on yet another book. I will always be grateful for their understanding and enthusiasm which allowed my own peculiar version of the writing process to flourish. My grateful thanks to them all.
I am also immensely grateful to my publisher, Denny Neave, publishing manager and astute reader Di Evans, and publicity maestro Sharon Evans. The superb layout and eye-catching design of this beautiful book are the work of the skilful team of designers led by Chris Nesci. The quirky map is the product of hours of careful work by Damien Finlayson, himself a noted historian and published author. To all the members of this talented team I extend my personal gratitude; I do hope they are as proud of this book as I am.
About the Author
Catherine McCullagh is a highly respected editor and author. She has worked as an editor and advisor on numerous military and Australian history books and has two successful non-fiction books, Willingly into the Fray and War Child alongside Dancing with Deception, an historical fiction novel also set in World War II. She has a Bachelor of Arts and, after a twenty-year career in the Army as a teacher and linguist, now follows her passion as a writer and editor.
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A beautiful Australian nurse escapes a possessive lover and a domineering mother, trapped eventually in the maelstrom of wartime Paris where she is caught in the crossfire between a desperate resistance and a ruthless Gestapo chief, a dangerous weapon to one and a trophy to the other, but expendable to both — so why does she find herself falling in love with a man she knows has blood on his hands, and why does the resistance now have her in its sights?