I’m extremely excited to be sharing the new jacket for The Hidden Wife, which is out in ebook in June and hits the shops in August. It’s the second in my Stitch In Time trilogy and follows on from The Runaway Daughter.
Evoking Paris in 1928, the era of jazz, fashion, flapper girls and all the fun that went with it was an absolute joy.
I’ve always been in love with Paris, ever since I went there as a teenager and spent ten days one summer wandering around with a boyfriend, soaking in all the sights. Woody Allen’s ‘Midnight In Paris’ only made me want to write about it more, so I was delighted to be able to set a book there.
This time I roped in my three girls and Emlyn for a research trip. We had so much fun going to the Sacre Couer and Dreyfus, the fabric emporium nearby, which features in the book. This street is where I chose Vita and Nancy to have their fictional apartment, run by the fearsome consierge, Madame Vertbois.
My girls at Le Sacre Coeur.
After her ill-fated fling with Fletch, the sexy trumpeter, Vita has lunch in the famous Cafe de Flore, where we had a sensationally expensive salad for lunch.
And Les Deux Margots gets a mention too, when Vita and Nancy are exploring the sights of Paris.
We went to Le Galleries Lafeyette, where Vita goes to buy Marianne a dress and to try on perfume. As mentioned in the book, I found out a wonderful french word: ‘Sillage’. It refers to how much of your essence you leave behind. I tried on a particularly pungent perfume and I can tell you, there was plenty of sillage for the rest of the day. Here’s the wonderful dome inside, and the stunning view from the roof.
As mentioned in the book, we had to try the famous Macrons from Laduree…
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…and chocolate eclairs from Stohrer – all in the name of research! Tough, huh!
And here I am at the famous Folies Bergere, where The Hidden Wife starts.
There were all the other sights, too. I had to include the splendour of Notre Dame (pictured here in all its glory, just weeks before the devastating fire)
and the Eiffel Tower, of course gets its own romantic scene.
In these strange times of lockdown, I do feel lucky to be a writer and to have a world to escape to of my own. But, oh, how I miss those sunny days in Paris, when we could just mooch around without a care in the world.
If you want to escape to Paris too, The Hidden Wife is out in ebook on 25th June and in UK shops in August.
Joanna Rees Books 