By
Amber Leigh Williams (Guest Blogger)
During
research for Madame Rebelle, I immersed myself in 1940s France
to the point I began to dream in French (…or gibberish. Three
semesters of high school French hardly make me fluent). One of the
most interesting things I learned about the region of Champagne is
that beneath the landscape is a network of limestone caves. This
system of caves, known to local Champenois as crayères, is so
vast that it was transformed into underground cities during the First
World War.
Let's
back up a bit. Actually, let's back up a lot—to the 3rd
and 4th centuries when the crayères came into
existence. Then, the Romans plumbed the wealth of chalk and salt
deposits beneath the cities of Reims and Épernay, leaving behind
subterranean tunnels and chambers the size of cathedrals. Fast
forward to the 17th and 18th centuries when
champagne growers realized how great their sparkling wine responded
to the conditions presented by these ready-made cellars.
Temperatures were ideal for aging and conditions underground
never varied.
Champagne
became vastly popular, of course. So popular that the more prominent
champagne houses of the time expanded the crayères for aging
and storage purposes. Several champagne houses in Champagne still use
the original caves as a place to store and mature their product, such
as France's oldest champagne house, Ruinart, founded in 1729. Its
caverns run over 130 feet deep.
I
guess we should have started even further in the past before human
beings came into existence when Champagne was covered by warm water
and bathed in a tropical clime. In one cave, some 300 species of
fossilized shells have been uncovered. It is known as Cave aux
Coquillages, or Shell Cave.
The
history of the crayères is remarkable, to say the least, but
never were they so remarkable than in the early 1900s when Champagne
came under German bombardment. Instead of evacuating, the people of
Reims fled into the caverns. There, they built cities complete with
housing, hospitals, chapels, and schools. One cave, owned by the
champagne house Taittinger, housed 200 students alone. As brutal
warfare continued on the surface, hundreds of people spent the
duration of the war in the safety of the crayères. Today,
visitors to the caves can still see their carvings on the walls.
I
was so intrigued by the stories from the caves that I knew they would
play a major role in Madame Rebelle. When we meet the main
character, Edmee Guillon, a young war widow in 1943, she is secretly
using the crayères underneath her family's vineyard to hide
refugees from the German Army. Over the course of the story, the
crayères become the hiding place for a good many things Edmee
must hide from the Germans and her family, including a wounded man in
a German uniform who isn't at all what he seems.
I
hope you have enjoyed learning about crayères and I hope you
become as lost in 1943 Champagne with Madame Rebelle as much
as I have been since my research journey started. Santé!
Blurb
Rebel.
Smuggler. Spy.
Champagne,
France 1943
Meet
Madame Rebelle. Edmee Guillon is a smuggler. She hides people from
the German troops surrounding her ancestral home. When a dying man in
a German uniform seeks refuge at Maison Boutet, Edmee struggles to
believe his claims that he is French. Her life, the maison and the
people she loves are already at stake. Can she take the chance that
this mysterious spy is who he says he is? And which side of this war
is he really on?
Christian
Vovk has been betrayed by someone inside his resistance organization.
He knows asking the striking young war widow to hide him will put her
in certain danger. However, Christian can help Edmee save as many
refugees as she can. Falling in love with her will hinder his duty to
the operation that brought him to her doorstep in the first place.
When love and duty become inevitably tangled, will Christian
sacrifice one for the other?
Excerpt
“You'll
need to look as normal as possible.”
“What
do I know of normal?” Edmée asked. “I’m tall. I have bright
red hair. And I have this.” She waved at the mark on her chin.
The
birthmark was unfortunate. Not because it was unpleasant to look at.
It made an already interesting face fascinating to look at. It was
unfortunate because it would be easy to remember. She was memorable.
Christian wondered how long after they parted in Franche-Comté he
would think about Edmée Guillon. “Do you think this is something
you can do?” he asked.
She
crossed to the table. Linking her hands on its surface, she gathered
herself. “The hardest part will be convincing my uncle to let me
go.”
“Use
the same story we practiced,” he advised. “Practice it again.
Your first pass at it can be with your uncle as your audience. You’ll
gain confidence if he buys it.”
Her
eyes circled his features. “You’ve trained other people to do
this before.”
She
was skilled at reading people. Reading him. He wasn’t an open book.
But she saw him. He tried not to think about the growing admiration
behind his regard for her. Leaning toward her in the halo of light
from the lantern between them, he said, “You’re going to do fine,
Edmée.”
“I
hope so.”
Review
by Lisabet Sarai
In
September, 1943, France has been invaded by the Germans and
partitioned into two sections, the south controlled by the
authoritarian collaborator Vichy government, the north under direct
German occupation. Red-headed widow Edmée Guillon lives in the
latter, on her uncle’s Julien’s estate in the Champagne region.
Julien maintains cordial relations with the occupying forces,
supplying them with the best wines from the family vineyards.
Meanwhile Edmée, her cousin Jacqueline and Jacqueline’s husband
Michel secretly smuggle “undesirables” to countries outside the
Nazi sphere of influence. Their charges – Jews and others who would
otherwise be sent to concentration camps – secretly shelter in
local caves until Edmée and her accomplices can acquire forged
identity papers and pass the fugitives on to other members of the
resistance who help them escape.
One
night Edmée comes upon a seriously wounded man wearing a German
uniform in the woods near the estate. Conflicted and suspicious, but
unable to abandon a fellow human being in need, she hides him
underground and gradually nurses him back to health. The man, who
calls himself Christian, claims to be French despite his clothing.
Edmée soon realizes that he is a spy of some sort, with secret goals
he will not share, for what he claims is her own safety. Despite his
concerns, however, Edmée becomes ensnared in his strategies and
plans, engaging in increasingly risky endeavors to support his plans
and to escort one last band of refugees to freedom.
I
generally enjoy historical romance, but in most books in this genre,
the history takes second place to the romantic relationship. Madame
Rebelle is a welcome exception. Amber Leigh Williams does a
magnificent job bringing the period to life – in particular the
fear that pervades everything in the heroine’s world. Edmée’s
conscience leads her into actions that could easily result in her
being imprisoned, tortured or executed. Everyone around her – in
particular the enigmatic but admirable Christian – faces the same
risks.
At
the same time, the author doesn’t turn the Nazis into cardboard
super-villains. Partly because of her relationship to her
collaborator uncle, the occupying forces treat Edmée with some level
of courtesy, giving her the opportunity on several occasions to
deceive them.
In
one of my favorite sequences, Edmée agrees to travel by train to the
city of Troyes to deliver a message for Christian. She’s nearly
unmasked as a spy, but her courage and her ability to think quickly
under pressure help her to escape detection. She has both a strong
moral compass and a powerful survival instinct. Nevertheless, she’s still
very human. The author lays bare her doubts, her flaws, her
insecurities and her deep-seated sense of betrayal by her deceased
cowardly husband. That shame may be part of what drives her in the
direction of heroism, a desire to make amends and to make a
difference.
The
romantic elements in this story simmer beneath the surface, as Edmée
and Christian gradually come to trust and to admire one another.
Given the desperate circumstances in their lives, this is realistic.
Eventually they do come together, as we suspect they will. That
consummation, however, is not the author’s primary focus.
Instead,
she wants to show readers the realities of the historical period: the
brutality, the treachery and the bravery. The book includes extensive
notes on the historical background. In the preface, Ms. Williams
provides a very personal discussion of the novel’s roots, which
stretch back to the first time she read Anne Frank’s diary. Indeed,
the book is dedicated to Anne, which seems very apt.
Madame
Rebelle is not a light book. It’s not a story you’ll forget.
If, like me, you are a fan of strong, heroic women, I suspect that it
is a story you will enjoy.
About
the Author
Amber
Leigh Williams writes pulse-pounding romantic suspense, historical
fiction, and contemporary romance. When she’s not writing, she
enjoys traveling and being outdoors with her family and dogs. She is
fluent in sarcasm and is known to hoard books like the book dragon
she is. An advocate for literacy, she is an ardent supporter of
libraries and the constitutional right to read.
Website:
https://amberleighwilliams.com
Instagram:
https://instagram.com/amberleighwilliams
Facebook:
https://facebook.com/amberleighwilliamsbooks
Amazon
Author Page:
https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B0030VZW2C?ccs_id=972a6661-be68-4275-b311-8f8e0b259f83
Goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2713894.Amber_Leigh_Williams
Bookbub:
https://www.bookbub.com/profile/amber-leigh-williams
Madame
Rebelle - Purchase Links
Amazon
Ebook: https://a.co/d/b7e849S
Amazon
Paperback: https://a.co/d/cIS1iOp
Amber’s
Website: https://amberleighwilliams.com/madame-rebelle
Amber
Leigh Williams will be awarding a $25 Amazon/BN gift card to a
randomly drawn winner.
