The Paris Agent(108)
A U T H O R L E T T E R
This novel is set around historical events, but some changes have been made to timelines and details to simplify the narrative. So, what’s true, and what’s fiction?
Eloise and Josie could both be considered composite characters. I have drawn small aspects of their stories from many of the 39 female agents who served in the SOE’s French Section during the war, but much of Eloise’s story, particularly the early parts of the book, are inspired by true events from the life of Violette Szabo, and much of Josie’s story, particularly her final days, has been drawn from what we know of the life of Dianna Rowden.
Violette Szabo was a young widow and mother who had some limited military experience with the Auxiliary Territorial Service when she was recruited by the SOE. She was sent into occupied France after just a few months of training and traveled alone to a restricted zone around Rouen to investigate the potential compromise of an SOE circuit there. She was arrested several times （including for failing to procure a permis de sejour） and talked her way out of trouble each time. She gathered crucial data about the compromised resistance circuits in the Normandy region, as well as the German V1/V2 rocket launch sites. Just as Eloise does in my story, Violette went shopping while in Paris and, using forged currency provided to her by the SOE, purchased a brooch for an official （in reality, an intelligence officer named Vera Atkins）。
Violette returned to France for a second mission just after D-Day, and she and other agents drew the attention of German forces outside of Salon-La-Tour. Some accounts have Violette single-handedly holding off German troops with a sten gun, just as Eloise does in my story. Other accounts say this is the stuff of legend and that it did not actually happen. What is certain is that Violette was captured that day at Salon-La-Tour and subsequently imprisoned and interrogated. As the Allies advanced and prisoners of war were taken back into Germany, she briefly escaped a box car to fetch water for critically dehydrated POWs in an adjoining carriage.
Ultimately, Violette was taken to Ravensbrück and was executed there at just 23 years old on or before 5 February 1945. She was survived by a young daughter, Tania, who was raised by her grandparents. The story of Hugh/Theo in my book is entirely fictional.
The character of Jocelyn was inspired by SOE agent Dianna Rowden, a British woman who had lived in France at various points throughout her life. Separated from her beloved mother and stuck in France as the occupation began, Dianna became involved with the Red Cross and ultimately escaped to England via Spain and Portugal. As with Violette, Dianna had just a few months’ training with the SOE before she was sent into France on her first mission.
Dianna was involved in the SOE operation to destroy the Peugeot factory near Sochaux （she was particularly active in retrieving air drops of explosives to fields around Montbéliard）。 The RAF had attempted the destruction of this factory by air and misjudged the location, causing hundreds of civilian deaths. An SOE agent named Harry Rée liaised with the factory director and facilitated the safe destruction operation from the ground.
As a courier, Dianna Rowden courageously ferried messages all over France—travelling as far afield as Lyon, Besançon, and of course Montbéliard and Paris. She was ultimately betrayed by a double agent and captured, and after enduring interrogation and torture at the notorious Avenue Foch Sicherheitsdienst headquarters, was moved to the civilian prison at Karlsruhe. She was then transported by passenger train with 3 other young SOE agents （Andree Borrell, Vera Leigh, and Sonya Olschanezky） to the Natzweiler-Struthof camp.
These agents were told they were receiving a typhus inoculation just a few hours after their arrival at the camp. In reality they were injected with phenol, although the dosage was not likely enough to kill them. Several eyewitness accounts confirmed that the final woman was still conscious when she was placed into the furnace. Witnesses also reported that she shouted “vive la France!” just before her death. An attendant involved in the murders had gouges on his face—the result of her last-ditch efforts to save herself.
The story of Jocelyn’s personal life is entirely fictional, including her romance with Noah, her health challenges and her relationship with her mother and Aunt Quinn.
It is unfortunately true that Dianna Rowden’s mother was not informed of her daughter’s death for some time after it occurred, and even then, she was told nothing about Dianna’s heroic wartime missions. For more than 12 years after the end of the war, Mrs. Rowden mistakenly believed her daughter had failed to achieve anything worthwhile in the field. In the end, it was not any government official who explained the truth, but rather the author Elisabeth Nichols, who tracked Mrs. Rowden down while researching a non-fiction book, Death Not Be Proud.
The character of Gerard Turner was inspired by （although is not closely based on） Henri Déricourt. Déricourt was friends with Nicolas Bodington, the real second-in-command to the SOE’s French section. Concerns regarding Déricourt’s trustworthiness and security had been raised by agents in the field, but these concerns were dismissed by officials at Baker Street and he was allowed to continue working with the agency.
After the war, Déricourt was tried for having “intelligence with the enemy,” however Bodington testified on his behalf and Déricourt was acquitted—a result which infuriated other high-ranking SOE officials. It is now widely believed that Déricourt was complicit in the arrest of many other SOE agents, and possibly hundreds of French resistors.