Scavenged Days: A ‘What If?’ Novel of the Impact of the Assassination of President De Gaulle

Scavenged Days: A ‘What If?’ Novel of the Impact of the Assassination of President De Gaulle

Certainly since first seeing the movie 'Ascenseur Pour L'Echafaud' (1958; novel 1956) and 'Le Samouraï' (1967) I have long wanted to write a book set in France in the late 1950s or early 1960s.  In part it is because of the style of those days with suave men and sophisticated women in fashionable clothes, eating well and driving around in sleek cars.  The period was also one of great upheaval for the country, with an attempt by disaffected military officers to overthrow the government, a sustained colonial war in Algeria and terrorism both from nationalists and the state there and in France itself.  I had long toyed with writing a detective novel set in that context.  However, I settled on a 'what if?' novel, possibly the genre that I have best become known for.

There are lots of potential points of divergence in French history of the time.  One reason for this is the assassination attempts that the President of France, General Charles De Gaulle faced.  Two attempts came very close to killing him.  The attempt at Petit Clamart in August 1962 when hundreds of bullets were fired at De Gaulle's car features in the opening minutes of the movie of 'The Day of the Jackal' (1973; from novel 1971).  However, I used the September 1961 attempt close to Pont-sur-Seine in which De Gaulle's car was blasted across the road by explosives and napalm.  If it had not been for the age of the explosives and the failure of the assassins to follow up with gunfire, De Gaulle could easily have been killed.

Those targeting De Gaulle were the OAS - the Secret Army Organisation made up of disgruntled officers and their supporters.  It carried out a string of terrorist attacks with the intention of bringing down the French government and so retaining, they believed, French control of Algeria, its colony since 1830.  Initially they believed that De Gaulle would achieve this for hem, but they rapidly turned against him when it became clear he was going to grant the country independence.

This novel focuses on the days following the successful assassination of President De Gaulle in September 1961, when the OAS - its symbol was the Celtic cross featured on the book's cover - in its triumph, aims to seize power in France.  With 'what if?' novels it is often a challenge to show different sides of the story. I am alert to criticisms of my books, that, despite extensive historical notes, I do not give sufficient context for the differences from our own history in the text. You sometimes end up with the leading characters in alternate history fiction taking a convoluted journey in order to witness different events.  Often there is lengthy expository dialogue to fill the readers in which can really deaden a novel especially if it is a thriller.  Having different characters witness different development, can also lead to a charge I have received that it makes the book 'fragmentary'.

In 'Scavenged Days' I have gone for a hybrid approach.  At the heart of the story is young magazine photo-journalist Laure Favager.  I am conscious that many alternate history books are often male dominated.  I have always included female characters and think it is essential to show the impacts on different kinds of people. Thus, police, civilians, old people, civil servants, all appear.  Laure is a modern sophisticated woman, drawing in her lover, businessman Roland Trémaux and her boyfriend, journalist Gilles Vasseur into the danger that France in this situation is facing.  However, in line with my sense of the importance of the vulnerability of lead characters, she is highly flawed and her involvement with the conspiracy to seize power challenges her.  As always, while the 'what if?' is the focus, I feel it is a weak book that does not reflect it through people and simply ends up something like a wargaming scenario.

As is the case with all my work, I have done immense research on the historical details of the setting, not simply the politics, but also the fashion, the food and the cars, to give it that finesse that I envisaged when first thinking about a book set in this era.  I am sure that there will be people queuing up to condemn the book as pure fantasy and that it could not have gone that way or to moan about the fact that there is not enough shooting.  They will complain about some pistol one of the characters is shown using, or more worryingly that too many women feature in the book, which, in their eyes should all be about men.  However, no author can choose their audience.  I hope you find this both an exciting and interesting book, taking a look at a slice of modern history which, certainly in the English-speaking world, is sorely overlooked.



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