Purbeck writer Greg Duncan drew from his family tree when he sat down to write his first historical novel – for his aunt had been a freedom fighter in the French Resistance during World War Two.
Greg, a member of Purbeck U3A’s writing group, was inspired to write Champagne in a Broken Teacup by a picture drawn in 1941 by his aunt Marie Therese Pellissier, of German soldiers in the rain.
Greg’s aunt Marie Therese Pellissier, pictured here in 1949, worked for the resistance in France during German occupation
Forging papers and blowing up fuel dumps
His story, which is likely to get a sequel or two, is set against the backdrop of the German invasion of France in 1940 and its effects on Marie-Claire, an artist in Paris who is forced to flee the Gestapo and begin a new life in Nevers, a small town in central France still within territory occupied by the Germans.
His French aunt, an art teacher in a school in occupied France, lived in Nevers herself during the war.
When she wasn’t teaching or drawing she spent time forging documents for the Resistance and sometimes blowing up fuel dumps – on one such occasion, she was lucky to escape after a German general stopped to offer her a lift back to town.
The picture she drew of German soldiers in the rain was an allegory of life as she knew it, her freedom to talk and travel, live and love, all trampled under Hitler’s occupying army.
The original now hangs above Greg’s desk, constantly reminding him that he had a story to write about the bravery of his aunt while he published eight earlier books, both of poetry and for children.
A picture of German troops in Nevers, drawn by his aunt, became Greg’s inspiration to complete his story
“Pretended to be a TB patient”
Greg Duncan said:
“I know that my aunt received warning of her imminent arrest one day and after being coached that night by her doctor, she escaped the following day across the demarcation line to the Free Zone of France.
“At the checkpoint, she pretended to be a seriously ill tuberculosis patient, spitting blood all over her documents as she handed them to the guards. Not surprisingly, she was waved through without inspection!
“I heard a few stories about what my aunt did, perhaps insufficient to make a full book, but I thought here is a life to have a story told around, so I did a lot of research into the Resistance and the time period and chose to make it as realistic as I could.
“On a French website, I found beautiful scans of all the old newspapers they would have been reading, so I was actually able to study the papers that my characters would have received each morning, which gave me a great insight into how they were living.”
Photographs taken by a German in Nevers during the war gave Greg accurate locations for his book
The law which banned croissants
Greg added:
“I discovered things I had never heard of before, such as the fact that it became illegal to make croissants in France after it was conquered by Germany, for a very good reason.
“The Germans had requisitioned most of the food in France, including butter, and you need a lot of butter to make croissants, so the Vichy government passed a law to prohibit making croissants and brioche, and also that no bread could be sold until it was at least 24 hours old.
“I suspect that’s because you would eat fresh bread quite quickly, but if you ate stale bread it would take longer and you would feel more full afterwards with less.
“I was also learning a lot about British history, what Churchill was doing, from the French newspapers, because it was vital to a defeated people still dreaming of resistance.”
The British Special Operations Executive dropped their first agent in France near Nevers
The very message his aunt would have read
Greg also managed to get some original propaganda leaflets dropped by the British over France to promote rebellion against Hitler – in total, 644 million leaflets were dropped by the RAF during the course of the war.
During research, he discovered that one of the first Special Operations Executive agents dropped by Britain in France to promote spying, sabotage and resistance was on a flight to Nevers to drop leaflets on the town where his aunt was carrying out her own operations.
And when he wrote to the RAF to see if they had a copy of the actual leaflet which would have been dropped that day, they sent him back the very message which Marie Therese would have read.
Charles De Gaulle (third from left) with Winston Churchill and Franklin D Rooseveldt after France had fallen
“My research was extensive”
Greg Duncan said:
“There was a speech which Charles de Gaulle gave on Saturday 22nd June 1940, after France had fallen, broadcast to France by the BBC, which marked the start of the French Resistance.
“It gave me the weirdest feeling that I was typing about my characters listening to this speech when I could listen to it as well, as the BBC had recorded it and it is still available to listen to today.
“The newspaper I was reading was the actual paper that my aunt would have read and I knew that I had to go on and complete my story.
“It is a novel, a fictional story woven into historical reality, about a freelance artist who is forced to flee from Paris to Nevers when tragedies strike, using a false name and identity, and finding unexpected inner strength as a resistante.
“But it recalls things which the resistance actually did, and when I mention specific places, it’s because they exist. I even found a set of photographs taken by a German in Nevers at the time – my research was extensive.”
The original artwork drawn by Greg’s aunt hangs in his study as a constant reminder
Offices six floors beneath Whitehall
Greg met his aunt once in 1953, when his family stayed with his grandfather in France, but she didn’t speak English and at the time, aged just seven, he spoke no French – and also committed the social error of speaking with the servants, so he didn’t find out about her exploits until later in life.
His French mother and Scottish father had met during university studies in Germany in 1937 and were aware of how dangerous Hitler’s regime was.
Within a day of war being declared two years later, his father signed up to serve, eventually joining British intelligence and working in offices six floors beneath Whitehall.
Although he never spoke of his role in the war, when the book Spycatcher was published by former MI5 officer Peter Wright, he was able to tell Greg that the ‘information was accurate’.
Greg’s book was published in December 2024 and is available from Amazon. He is now looking for groups in Swanage which would welcome an illustrated talk from him about his book and his research.
Further information
- More information is available on Greg Duncan’s publishing website, Kenebec
