Characters Lead the Way

As a long-form memoirist writer and teacher, I was taking on a big challenge when I embarked on the journey of writing historical fiction. I was familiar with the basics of writing, but to write fiction, I would get to, have to, make things up! How could I decide what fictional stories to create. Before I even started writing, I knew my book would take place in France at the start of World War II, but there were going to be so many decision points. Unlike with memoirs, in this book I didn’t know anyone. I wasn’t there. How could I decide what to include? 

Ten years before starting my novel, I came upon a book about Varian Fry, an American who saved refugees who had been stuck in France in 1940 when France lost the war so quickly. A group called the Emergency Rescue Committee in New York sent him to Marseille, with a list of intellectuals, artists, and politicians in danger of arrest by the Gestapo.

Germany occupied half of France while the other half was a collaborationist government in Vichy under Philippe Petain. Fry was tasked with offering aid to these refugees and finding a way to help them get to America. After he arrived in France, he discovered that many thousands of people were in danger of arrest or death, especially Jews. When France fell, thousands of people were stuck in France. In particular danger were refugees who’d left Austria and Germany for safety in France because Hitler was coming after them again. A story about this desperate time began to form in my mind.

There’s a joke among historical fiction writers having to do with how much we love research. It’s called “research rapture.” We discover one amazing detail and then the next one—then obsess over how to fit them into a story. But for me, when I began to write, the real challenge was how to deliver the history to readers—through characters who were made up of dreams and what ifs.

I began to imagine Sarah, a young Jewish artist in Berlin, and her father figure, Mr. Lieb, a luthier and violin teacher. Inspired by my art and music background, and I wanted to show the importance of the arts for survival. By 1938, conditions in Germany had grown even more dangerous for Jews, and at her mother’s urging, Mr. Lieb brought Sarah to Paris where he had friends and a luthier shop.

I could see Sarah in Paris, enjoying a free life studying art, as I would love to do, but I imagined she wouldn’t be able to shake off the specter of danger and terror she’d been living through in Germany. But she was young and optimistic, and I imagined her in this new free life meeting a man at a café—a Spanish Republican, Cesar, a character I hadn’t expected to encounter. I was discovering the magic of fiction! 

Even then, I didn’t leave memoir behind. The memoirs I was reading from the era took hold of me, revealing the dark and hidden stories that didn’t exist in history books. I buried myself in those stories, determined to reveal in my fiction the secret truths of what had happened to real people who’d lived through it all. Varian Fry’s memoir, Surrender on Demand, is a powerful testament to his work and the incredible dangers he faced. The threat of death hung around every corner. The gritty reality of danger was ever-present for all the refugees. To survive, they needed to have the proper papers, visas, birth certificates, and passports. Many were “stateless,” without papers and in danger of being arrested for lack of proper documentation.

What if? I thought. I cast my imagination further to imagine how my fictional characters would meet the “real life” Fry, and how they might work together to save lives. What if Sarah used her art background to become a forger? What if her new friend Cesar had learned the skill, too, as he struggled to survive after escaping Franco’s Spain? A plot was forming!

The journey to find my characters and the heart of my story took me to Paris in 2018 where I found cafés and scoped out the geography of a city that would have been under siege in 1940, and then to Marseille. The train station stands at the top of a hill overlooking the city, the same place where Varian Fry and other refugees stood as they entered Marseille. The Mediterranean Sea sparkled in the distance, and at the bottom of a long stairway leading to the street, the Hotel Splendide marked where Fry began his quest to save thousands. I walked streets now named after World War II heroes, and later took a train to Banyuls sur mer, a village on the coast from where refugees climbed the Pyrenees to escape France. Each place offered its unique feel and smell and energy, and I easily cast myself back in time and met my characters there. 

My characters taught me how to listen to them, how to pay attention to what they needed. They invited me to walk alongside them and taught me how to be brave. When I wrote memoir, I explored my own depths, and now, in fiction, I became a chameleon as I moved into the inner thoughts of characters who became as real to me as any living, breathing person. They entered my dreams and whispered in my ear. Such is the gift of writing fiction!

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Linda Joy Myers has always been deliciously haunted by the power of the past to affect people in the stream of time. She has integrated her passion for history and her own struggles with intergenerational trauma into her work as a therapist and writer. The power of the truth to educate current generations about the past led Linda Joy to explore the little-known history of WWII in the weeks following the fall of France—which in turn led her to write The Forger of Marseille. She is the author of two memoirs, Don’t Call Me Mother and Song of the Plains, and four books on memoir writing. She’s also the founder of the National Association of Memoir Writers. You can learn more about Linda Joy’s work at www.namw.org and www.lindajoymyersauthor.com. She lives in Berkeley, CA.

THE FORGER OF MARSEILLE

It’s 1939, and all across Europe the Nazis are coming for Jews and anti-fascists. The only way to avoid being imprisoned or murdered is to assume a new identity. For that, people are desperate for papers. And for that, the underground needs forgers.

In Paris, Sarah, a young Jewish artist originally from Berlin, along with her music teacher and father figure, Mr. Lieb, meet Cesar, a Spanish Republican who knows well the brutality of fleeing fascism. He soon recognizes Sarah’s gift. She will become the underground’s new forger.

When the war reaches Paris, the trio joins thousands of other refugees in a chaotic exodus south. In Marseille, they’re received by friends, but they’re also now part of a resistance the government is actively hunting.  Sarah, now Simone, continues her forgery work in the shadows, expertly creating false papers that will mean the difference between life and a horrifying death for many. When Mr. Lieb is arrested and imprisoned in Les Milles internment camp, Simone, Cesar, and their friends vow to rescue him, enlisting the help of American journalist Varian Fry, known for plotting the escapes of high- profile people like Andre Breton and Marc Chagall. In this enlightening and thrilling story of war, love, and courage, author Linda Joy Myers explores identity, ingenuity, and the power of art to save lives.

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