Q&A with Natasha Lester

Briefly tell us about your book.

The Mademoiselle Alliance is based on the true story of the bravest, most extraordinary woman, a woman named Marie-Madeleine Fourcade—the only woman to lead a French Resistance network during WWII. She was a mother. A rally car driver. A pilot. A journalist. A woman who became known as the beautiful spy. A woman at the top of the Gestapo’s most-wanted list. A woman whose heart was broken over and over by the war, but who kept fighting because it was the right thing to do. I can’t wait for you to meet her.

What inspired the idea behind the book?

The fact that Marie-Madeleine Fourcade led three thousand agents throughout WWII, heading up the largest and most important Resistance network, yet almost nobody has ever heard of her. Take, for instance, the fact that Charles de Gaulle created the Compagnons de la Libération to honour the Resistance fighters he believed had fought the hardest for France’s freedom throughout the war. He bestowed this title on 1038 people. Of them, 1032 were men, including three of Marie-Madeleine’s lieutenants. Marie-Madeleine was not amongst them. I wanted to write The Mademoiselle Alliance so that readers could honour her the way history did not.

What was your research process like for the book?

As well as poring over various documents about the Alliance network at the French national archives and reading Marie-Madeleine’s memoir in both French and English several times, I went to France and walked in her footsteps. My first stop was Marseille, where her network had their headquarters on a beautiful little harbour, then I went to Aix-en-Provence to see the building where she escaped from prison by squeezing her body out through the bars on the window. I also travelled through the Dordogne region, where Alliance’s secret moonlight flights from MI6 landed and took off. My last stop was beside Marie-Madeleine’s grave at the Père-Lachaise cemetery in Paris so I could pay homage to her.

What are you hoping the reader will take away from your book?

In The Mademoiselle Alliance, I’ve written a book about a woman who fought back against those who wanted to take away people’s freedoms and to abolish liberal democracy. I’ve written about a woman who found others who believed in the same things as she did and who convinced them to join her. A woman who persevered despite loss and pain, despite having to send her children away, despite the fact that entire cities were shut down while police hunted for her and her friends. I’ve written a book about a woman who made a difference, a woman who proves to us all that one brave, selfless human being, supported by other brave selfless human beings, can change the world. Which is exactly the kind of story we need right now.

How does it feel to hold your book in your hands?

Incredible! Especially when it has such a gorgeous cover, like The Mademoiselle Alliance has. I’ll never stop being thrilled by the sight of my name on the cover of a book and by the knowledge that readers all over the world will spend some time reading a story that I’ve written.