1943. German soldiers occupy provincial Lucie-sur-Vionne, and as the villagers pursue treacherous schemes to deceive and swindle the enemy, Céleste embarks on her own perilous mission as her passion for a Reich officer flourishes.

When her loved ones are deported to concentration camps, Céleste is drawn into the vortex of this monumental conflict, and the danger of French Resistance collaboration.

As she confronts the harrowing truths of the Second World War’s darkest years, Céleste is forced to choose: pursue her love for the German officer, or answer General de Gaulle’s call to fight for France.

Her fate suspended on the fraying thread of her will, Celeste gains strength from the angel talisman bequeathed to her through her lineage of healer kinswomen. But the decision she makes will shadow the remainder of her days.

The remainder of her days?
Wolfsangel opens seven decades after German troops march into the rural French village of Lucie-sur-Vionne, and Céleste Roussel is still unable to assuage her guilt.

What genre is this story?
Historical Fiction.

What kind of readers will it appeal to?
Francophiles, those who love the books of Joanne Harris, readers who love strong female protagonists fighting in a man’s world.

We’re curious about Céleste, and what led her to the decisions she makes.
A sickly blue baby at birth, Céleste’s father named her after the mineral, Célestine, for its delicate blue colour: a precious gem that survived against the odds.

In constant battle with her mother, Marinette, who sees Céleste as the weakling child, the second daughter rather than a son to take over the family business, Céleste has strong bonds with her father, and is distraught when he is sent to a German labour camp.

Céleste yearns to leave the family farm, to study at university and pursue a career, but her mother wants her to marry a local farmer and settle in the village to raise a tribe of children.

Céleste is also in conflict with her sister, Marie-Félicité, the nun. She resents Marie-Félicité for being the favourite, and for being able to escape their cold and bitter mother, when she left the farm for the convent.

Determined, rebellious, impulsive, naive, and passionate at the beginning of the Occupation, Célestine matures and learns some of life’s harsh lessons through her French Resistance work, and through her love of the enemy officer, Martin Diehl. Towards the end of the story, she will have to make one of the hardest decisions of her life: continue her love affair with the German officer, or join the French Resistance and fight for her country.

Have you written any other books that we should read next?
This book, Wolfsangel, is the second in L’Auberge des Anges trilogy, however each book can be read entirely as a standalone. The first book in the series – Spirit of Lost Angels – deals with the same family, living on the same farm, in the same rural French village, in the years leading up to the French Revolution.

Friends, Family and Other Strangers Downunder is a collection of fourteen humorous, horrific and entertaining short stories about Australians, for readers everywhere.

Tell us a bit about yourself.
I grew up in Wollongong, Australia, where I worked as a general nurse and midwife for fifteen years.

When I met my French husband on a Bangkok bus, I moved to France, where I have been living with my husband and three children for twenty years. I work part-time as a French-English medical translator, and as a novelist.

Several of my short stories have won awards, notably the Writers Bureau annual competition of 2004 and have been published widely in anthologies and small press magazines. My articles on French culture and tradition have been published in international magazines such as France Magazine and France Today.

That’s really romantic, meeting your husband on a bus on the other side of the world.
Is there anything else we need to know?
I am a co-founder and member of the Author Collective: Triskele Books, and I regularly review books for the Historical Novel Society and for the “Words with Jam” and “Bookmuseuk” blogs.

Do you have a website where we can keep up with your work?
www.lizaperrat.com
My blog: http://lizaperrat.blogspot.fr/

How can we follow you on Twitter and/or Facebook?
Twittter: @LizaPerrat or my author collective: @TriskeleBooks
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/liza.perrat.5
Facebook Author Collective: https://www.facebook.com/triskelebooks

What’s next?
I am currently writing the third and final novel in L’Auberge des Anges series: Midwife Héloïse – Blood Rose Angel. This story deals with a midwife of the same family, living in the same village, but during the Black Plague years of the 14th century. It also explores the origin of the bone angel pendant – a talisman handed down through the generations of the women of L’Auberge des Anges.