Hidden history novel is ‘book I had to write’

My latest novel shines a light on the little-known history of the Parisian Jewish community during the 1940s.

When Steff finds an old photo of two young girls in his attic, he uncovers the existence of his mother’s sister, Céleste, who left their family during the Second World War.

Intrigued by his mother’s secrecy, Steff leaves his hometown of Aberystwyth to work in Paris in the 1970s, embarking on a quest to find out what happened to Céleste. He’s met with walls of silence from his grandparents, and frustration at every turn. Steff begins to investigate the plight of the Parisian Jews in the 1940s, and is shocked to find there’s also a shroud of mystery surrounding their fate.

Will he be able to put the jigsaw pieces together?

Brian Jarman was born on a farm in Wales, the joint youngest of five brothers. He studied in London, Paris and Cardi, and was chief feature writer for the South Wales Argus. He then worked for BBC radio, and public radio in America. Brian has published five novels, and has a publishing consultancy.

Brian says: “When I was a teacher in France in the 1970s I was astonished that so little was taught about the deportation of Jews from the country in the 1940s. My curiosity was piqued when I read my friend Carmen Callil’s book Bad Faith a couple of years ago.

“I started reading around the subject and visiting Jewish memorials and archives in Paris, and discovered that one of the major round-ups was in the 11th arrondissement in Paris, which I know very well. It was this area too that bore the brunt of the November 2015 attacks by the Islamic State cell which killed and injured hundreds of people, mainly young concert-goers. So Parisian Shadows was a book I had to write as it had that compelling element of hidden history on your doorstep.”

“What I liked best about it, apart from the storytelling talents - always so good - was the personality of the narrator. Everything is alive in this novel, and the plot and atmosphere vvvvv good.”

Carmen Callil, founder of Virago Press about previous novel The Final Trick

Parisian Shadows by Brian Jarman is available online from Coles, Waterstones, Amazon and others.