L'Affaire Valentine

L'Affaire Valentine tells a fictional story set against a carefully researched background of little known historical facts concerning events in France in the immediate pre-war months of 1939. These include the annexation of INTERPOL by the Nazi's which occurred in 1938 , the secret US government deals to supply France with fighter aircraft, the sabotage and destruction of the most luxurious transAtlantic liner of the interwar years S.S. Paris at Le Havre, and the reported loss of important artworks bound for the New York World Fair in the fire that followed. Even the inaugural flights of the first PanAm transatlantic air routes happened within the exact time frame . Films, events, personalities of the time abound within these pages, and the everyday details of life in the months leading up to the declaration of war are as authentic as can be realised. Set within the world of a US owned Paris based newsreel office, the narrative draws on the author's experience as a scriptwriter working with the last of the newsreel crews
in London's Fleet Street back in the early 1970's.