In 2010, I traveled to France on vacation and launched a search for a missing family member. By 2011, my search exposed buried accounts of the war. Ordinary people risked their lives to save others. The Luftwaffe bombed a traveling circus. Officials hid the sinking of ships from the public. These events shape my story of the Fall of France.
My research led me into Gestapo arrest files. A deeper darkness emerged. I uncovered accounts of lovers who betrayed men to the authorities. These betrayals appeared again and again. They formed a clear, calculated strategy the Nazis used in Paris to crush the Resistance.
The war reshaped my understanding of the Fall of France.
I chose a novel over a memoir. I created Marc Tolbert, a fictional protagonist who carries the story. I faced a steep learning curve, but coaching sharpened my craft and drove me to complete the manuscript. At the time, agents chased the next Fifty Shades of Grey. Marc stands as a codependent, passive man who falls for a narcissistic, dominant woman. Their volatile, abusive bond mirrors the war’s violence and moral collapse.
Magical realism had not yet gained wide traction. I wove dreams, nightmares, and visions of the dead into the narrative. Factual animal scenes expose the war’s ruthless destruction of innocence.
After repeated rejections, I self-published the novel. Agents dismissed its magical realism and condemned its anti-romantic arc. The market demanded heroic love stories. I’m glad I chose to self-publish the novel. Readers who discover The Siren of Paris often carry their own families’ unanswered war stories.
Joan Rodes’s heroism stunned her family. They contacted me after learning how she rescued men lost at sea. They had never known the scope of her actions. Had I followed New York’s demands, these lives and stories would have vanished.
The Siren of Paris confronts a single question: can a soul claim peace after enduring a war that turns the world into hell? Marc faces love’s betrayal and the deaths it unleashes.
In the opening scene, he stands before the priest of time and judgment. The war dead rise and form a jury. A grave marked “Known unto God” bears his name, the mark of an unknown victim.
Chapters 2 through 47 replay the war as a relentless life review. Chapters 1 and 48 frame the story with stark, mystical visions of the assembly of the “Known unto God.” A priest, broken by betrayal from his own congregation at Buchenwald, summons this assembly.
Had we stood in France in 1939, we likely would have joined the war dead.
Journey through the dark, violent, and haunting landscape of World War II in Paris and beyond – Take on a harrowing tour through the depths of human depravity, exploring themes of love, loss, guilt, and redemption in this gripping historical tale.
Marc Tolbert, a young French-born man from a prominent American family, takes off to Paris for a fresh start after a breakup in 1939. Pursuing his dreams of attending a prestigious Parisian art school, he soon makes friends with some of history’s most notable figures, including Sylvia Beach and William Bullitt. Falling in love with an art model from one of his classes, he is blinded to the escalating violence around them as the war inches closer to the City of Lights.
What started as an adventure quickly becomes a nightmare as the war worsens, and Marc is faced with choices that will change his life forever.
When he finally faces the reality that he must leave Paris, fate deals him a cruel hand. Surviving the sinking of the RMS Lancastria, Marc is haunted by the deaths of his friends and the regret of not leaving sooner.
Returning to Paris, Marc is drawn into the resistance movement, risking everything to help those trapped behind enemy lines. But after being betrayed, he is captured and sent away to face the horrors of war and the guilt of his past mistakes.
The Siren of Paris is a powerful and emotional story that will keep you on the edge of your seat. With its compelling plot-driven narrative, vivid scenes, and intense action, this novel will transport you to the heart of war-torn Paris and leave you contemplating the weight of human choices and their impact on others. Whether you’re a fan of historical fiction, war stories, or symbolic themes, this novel will captivate and intrigue you from start to finish.
The Siren of Paris is available at Amazon.
*****
╰┈➤Book Details
- Genre: Historical Fiction
- Sub-genre: Magical Realism
- Language:English
- Pages: 352
- Paperback ISBN: 978-0983966715
*****
╰┈➤Here’s What Readers Have To Say!
David LeRoy is an author and avid explorer of the intersection of philosophy, psychology, and art. His debut novel, The Siren of Paris, is a poignant work that emerged from personal family research he undertook in 2010 to locate missing persons of WWII.
LeRoy’s fluency in French and two-year sojourn in France afforded him unique insights into the French culture he deftly weaves into his literary work. With a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy and Religion, an MBA from California State University Sacramento, and an MSc. Applied Data Science from Paris, France, LeRoy is a polymath with diverse interests and an insatiable curiosity for knowledge.
He currently resides in California, where he continues to write and pursue his creative passions.
Connect with him on social media at:
╰┈➤ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thesirenofparis
╰┈➤ Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/14760740-the-siren-of-paris?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=v6UbhLIMmb&rank=1
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