From Idea To Finished Novel: Writing Research For A Paris Secret

For most novelists the first blank page can be a terrifying prospect. How does one complete one hundred thousand words before arriving at the last magic phrase, the end?

Even with a strong synopsis, something my publisher insists upon, it is still a daunting task. For me, it is a matter of really pushing myself to complete those first chapters. Then something extraordinary happens, the story seems to take over and the characters take on a life of their own.

After months of hard work when I am adhering to a deadline, I finally hand over my precious manuscript and wait for my editor’s comments. Even a famous author can have a commissioned work rejected and have to start all over again!

The hurdle of finishing the novel is followed by months of line edits, proof reading and a million other details to contend with. As long as your research is meticulous, and you are not afraid to ask for help, then this is not as overwhelming as it may sound.

 A Paris Secret is about a young girl who dreams of being a heart surgeon in post-war Paris. I needed to understand Sophie’s journey and my salvation came when I met a retired pioneering heart surgeon who lived near me in Gloucestershire.

David Watson, who is in his late nineties, remembered every surgical procedure he undertook during his long career and wasn’t afraid to tell me about the failures. He was on hand to check the narrative ensuring that the medical scenes were convincing and accurate for the period. You cannot mention a heart lung machine if it has not yet been invented! David’s input made the character Sophie Bernot more plausible and it was a delight working with him. 

During a visit to Chamonix I was lucky enough to track down the celebrated mountaineer, Andy Parkin. Over a bottle of wine, he described the exhilaration of climbing up a mountain and the consequences of falling down a mountain when he broke virtually every bone in his body.

He also related the terrifying experience of being caught in an avalanche. On my final day, I forced myself to walk along a narrow mountain ridge opposite Mont Blanc. Experiencing the scree skittering away beneath my feet to the valley floor, a few thousand feet, below was hair raising for someone who is afraid of heights.

My mountain scenes took on an extra dimension when I was introduced to a London banker with a passion for heli-skiing. He recounted one of his expeditions when he had witnessed two members of his party buried and killed in an avalanche. Not only was he able to convey the fear as the force of thousands of tons of snow hurtled towards him, but I was able to view the extraordinary and shocking video footage taken by the helicopter pilot. 

I took up an invitation to stay with Chantal Gave, a charming French woman in her beautiful home in Paris. With amazing generosity, she spent five days showing me the medical schools, bars and jazz clubs that Sophie may have frequented in the 1950s.

On our last day, we found ourselves in traffic going past the Notre Dame, unaware that the fire was already raging inside. Five minutes later back at her home we heard the sirens of the fire engines and watched the unfolding drama on the news. This added a completely different aspect to my visit. A trip to a glorious hotel in Burgundy became the inspiration for the chateau that was Sebastian Ogilvie’s family home. My husband certainly enjoyed researching the area, especially the wonderful wines we tasted in Pommard. 

I was lucky that the period I was covering was well-documented and I able to read several fascinating books. Without exception, they captured the atmosphere of the coffee houses and bars that had become a centre for famous literary figures and artists during that time.

When I wrote ‘An Italian Affair,’ another love story set in the Second World War in England and Italy, research was again paramount. My friendship with two incredible RAF veterans proved invaluable. Gerry Tyack, an engineer, told me about the Erks, whose job it was to get the bullet riddled planes flying again in record time. Group Captain Iain Panton described what it was like to have a Messerschmitt 109 coming at you from out of the sun. Sadly these two wonderful men died before my book was published, but I have many happy memories of our afternoons together surrounded by maps and books, always with an egg and cress sandwich.

One late September afternoon I arrived in Civitella, a charming medieval Tuscan hilltop town. While the swallows dipped and dived over the piazza, I had an extraordinary and emotional encounter with an old woman who led me to the church. After placing a bundle of rosemary on the memorial inside, she told me about the fateful morning of 29th June, 1944.

Most of the villagers had been celebrating a feast day when a unit of the SS Wehrmacht Goering Division entered with flame throwers. After setting the houses alight and raping many of the women, they lined up the men and boys by the school and shot them. Her father was amongst them. This massacre had been in retaliation for the death of three German soldiers killed in a fight with the partisans in the local bar a few days earlier. 

I have now completed the first draft of ‘Shadow over the Spanish Sun,’ a novel set during the Spanish Civil War. I have had the privilege to meet many incredible people whilst researching my novels, all of whom have greatly enriched my life.

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Caroline Montague grew up with a passion for writing stories and poetry, but instead of taking up an offer to read English and drama at Bristol, she started a law degree. At nineteen she married a lawyer, had three children and managed to juggle a career as an interior designer with competitive dressage.

When she moved with her second husband, three children and four step children to Burnt Norton twenty two years ago, and she first saw the empty pools made famous by TS Eliot in the first of his Four Quartets, she knew that her dream of writing would one day become a reality. With seven young children to look after this took slightly longer than anticipated, but once they left for university, she found time to complete her first novel and there was no turning back. Her third, ‘A Paris Secret,’  is due to be published in August.  ‘Shadow Over the Spanish Sun’ a novel set  during the Spanish Civil War will be out in 2021.

A Paris Secret

Sophie Bernot is training to be a heart surgeon in the fragile atmosphere of post war Paris. She is a young woman in a man’s world, determined to forge her medical career whatever the costs. After meeting Sebastian Ogilvie, a man with vision and integrity on the brink of his own brilliant career, her defences slip, and she finds herself entangled in a brief, passionate affair with difficult consequences for both of them. Afterwards they each face a choice that will change their lives irrevocably, and a secret that will take years to be uncovered. The story takes you from Paris to London, to the vineyards of Burgundy and to the snow peaked Alps.

As a child Sophie witnesses something she doesn’t understand, and this has a ripple effect with dire results an idea that has always intrigued me. I also wished to highlight a young woman’s struggle in a man’s world. 

 

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