Sandra's Book Club: Blog Tour: MADAME REBELLE by Amber Leigh Williams

MADAME REBELLE

Amber Leigh Williams

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

GENRE: Historical Romance

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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 Three:

“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.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Topic: What research did you have to do to write this book?

When this book was but a spark in my mind…before I really even met the fictional Edmee Guillon, aka Madame Rebelle, I knew nothing of the brave people of the French Resistance of the 1940s. The earliest research book I read in preparation for Madame Rebelle tells the incredible story of a tiny village in the Loire Valley where townspeople conspired to break laws laid down by German occupiers and the Vichy government and rescue 3,500 people from deportation to Germany. This is primarily because of their secret printing press, used to forge no less 5,000 identification papers for Jewish refugees. They did all this with the understanding that if they were caught, they would be arrested and punished severely.

Initially, when I set forth to write Edmee’s story, it was difficult to find accounts from women of 1940s France. Then I found A Train in Winter by Caroline Moorehead, which tells the true story of 230 extraordinary French women who resisted the German Occupation. They printed illegal newspapers to combat the spread of Nazi propaganda, hid members of the resistance, helped Jewish families escape, couriered secret messages and transported weapons. All of them were eventually arrested for their activities. Only 49 survived the war.

These accounts and more inspired the story at the core of Madame Rebelle – that everyday people can do extraordinary things in the face of insurmountable odds. The members of the French Resistance paved the way for D-Day. They played a big part in forcing the German Army’s retreat from France and taking back their country and sacrificed a great deal to do so.

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

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

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

GIVEAWAY