Introducing Catherine Dior …
I expect most people have heard of Catherine’s brother, Christian Dior. But how many people have heard of Catherine Dior?
Catherine worked for the French Resistance during WWII. She was arrested by the Nazis and deported to Ravensbrück, a concentration camp for women. She escaped from the camp at the end of the war, ill, emaciated and barely alive. Her work with the French resistance was so important and so heroic that, after the war, she was awarded a Croix de Guerre and a Légion d’honneur.
Lost to History
Yet nobody knows about Catherine and her bravery. She risked her life for freedom and she is, arguably, the more heroic of the two Dior siblings but she, like so many women, has been lost to history. I wanted to bring her back to everyone’s notice because she deserves to be remembered and thus she is one of the characters in THE PARIS SECRET.
I always love to draw on real characters and real events in my fiction and, as soon as I heard about Catherine, I knew she would be one of the real-life inspirations in my book.
Find Out More
I’ve broken down the author talk I would have given at my cancelled Book Tour events into a series of short videos. This is the first in the series.
In this one, I talk the research I did into Catherine’s life. She was the trickiest research subject I’ve ever written about because, sadly, so little has been recorded about her life. I hope you enjoy getting to know her in THE PARIS SECRET, and I hope you enjoy the video.
Thank you soooo much Natasha for creating another fabulous book in The Paris Secret & for re-telling what you could of the amazing story of Catherine Dior, as well as that of the ATA pilots & SOE. I too am now looking forward very much to Justine Picardie’s upcoming book & finding out more about Catherine. I loved every moment of your book (as is my mum currently loving it too!) although it was also often so harrowing & sad to read towards the end. And of course I cried buckets! It was just what I needed to help get me through the last 2 weeks in our upside-down world (what a parallel with the 1940s?!). I still am left wondering though why Liberty also took up Margaux’s identity? And I wish you could have told us more about Vanessa & her own wartime adventures. Loved the unusual way you revealed the story events through Kat before going back in time to re-tell them. Also was so nice to meet up with D’Arcy & Josh again! Hope you’re already planning the next book?? Congratulations again on a book which I think is as stunning as those Dior gowns it celebrates!
So glad you enjoyed the book – and glad you enjoyed meeting Josh and D’Arcy again! Thanks so much for reading and stay safe and well at this strange time.
Thanks so much for taking the time to reply, Natasha. You stay safe too & keep up the wonderful work! Meant to also say how lovely & appropriate for both then & our current times it was to read your very moving reference to ‘Somewhere Over The Rainbow’ – as a head teacher we have been focussing a lot on the hopeful rainbow symbol with our children & families & this is such a beautiful song! Thank you again.🌈 ’