Page 47 of The Resistance Book Club

‘The gentleman is dead,’ the Professor replied, his expression giving nothing away. ‘He drowned.’

‘You’re right to protect him,’ Margot said, her voice hushed. Surely he must know where Daniel was, or knew someone who could contact him. ‘But Esther told the book club it was cover, to keep their family safe.’

The Professor’s fingers paused on the keys and the music fell silent. He seemed to consider Margot’s words for a few moments before he began to play again. The music was lilting and delicate and Isabelle cooed her approval.

‘We’re not in contact directly,’ the Professor eventually confided. ‘But I may know people who can pass a message to him. I’ll do all I can.’

Margot knew he would. He’d lost his daughter and would understand Daniel’s pain at being separated from his baby.

‘Thank you, Professor,’ she whispered, not wanting to disturb the flow of his music, which softly filled the room as if feathers were falling.

THIRTY-ONE

LUCY

2025

‘Morning, Sébastien!’ Lucy called as she went into Jojo’s bar.

Sébastien was serving breakfast. A tempting heap of croissants were waiting on the bar, and some holiday-makers in shorts and T-shirts were tucking in at one of the tables. He greeted Lucy with a wave as he turned from another table, where he was setting down bowls of steaming, dark coffee in front of a group of women.

‘Speak of the English devil,’ he said and laughed. ‘And here she is!’

‘Here I am,’ Lucy replied as she went over to the table, carefully holding the antique map.

She wondered who the three women at the table were and supposed that they were Cordeval locals. One of them was older, with short silver hair, while the others seemed to be around the same age as Lucy and Sébastien.

‘This is Lucy; she’s Arielle’s granddaughter,’ Sébastien told the women. ‘Lucy, meet Coralie, Odette and Sophie. They drink coffee and raise hell. But theymostly drink coffee.’

‘I’m Lucy. It’s great to meet all of you,’ she said. ‘Has Sébastien told you what we found yesterday, during the storm? There’s an amazing cellar under the shop! It’s been untouched for years.’

‘Why d’you think the mob’s out?’ The voice belonged to a young woman behind the bar. Her white-powdered face and long black hair seemed out of place in the bright, sunny bar. The young woman winked one mascara-heavy eye at the other women, then shot Lucy a beaming, black-lipsticked smile. ‘They’re plotting a raid on your shop.’

‘Anouk!’ admonished Coralie good-naturedly, with a toss of her red hair. She put down her coffee and waved a warning finger at Anouk, who shrugged it off. ‘Ignore my baby sister. We’re not planning a raid!’

Sébastien frowned and replied, ‘You kind of are, though?’ Then he addressed Lucy. ‘I told Anouk what we found last night and she went home and told Coralie. And Coralie told?—’

‘Icanspeak,’ said Coralie. She stood up and held out her hand to Lucy. ‘We four are some of the descendants of the book club that used to meet in your shop.’

Lucy nearly dropped the map in surprise. She laid it down on the table and grasped Coralie’s hand. ‘It’s such an honour to meet you all! You’ll have to come down and take a look. It’s such an amazing story.’

She glanced from face to face. If Isabelle had made it through the war, one of these women could be Esther’s granddaughter.

Odette, who had silver hair and round cheeks, told her, ‘As soon as Coralie rang me, I knew we had to come down. I’ve heard the odd story over the years, but…’ She shrugged. Lucy understood; the occupation had been such a dark time. People didn’t always want to talk about it.

Sophie had a broad grin and blonde hair that cascaded overher shoulders. ‘I amsoexcited! Can’t wait to get down there and see what you’ve found.’

‘There’s this for starters,’ Lucy told them, gesturing to the map. ‘I didn’t know what it was at first, then I realised…it’s a really old map showing the route of the tunnels under the village.’

‘Oh wow!’ Anouk exclaimed. ‘We should all go down there and poke around, don’t you think? Go on, Sébastien, you know you’d love to do that.’

Sébastien shrugged one shoulder. ‘I wouldn’t say no,’ he admitted.

The group around the table were absorbed in the map for a moment, tracing the routes of the long-forgotten tunnels; then Odette said happily, ‘We were saying to Sébastien, it’s wonderful to have Arielle’s granddaughter here, running the shop. I can’t wait to see it open again. Another generation of the family keeping the bookshop alive! I hope you’re good at reading stories – I loved Margot’s storytime, and my kids loved Arielle’s.’

Lucy swallowed, glancing quickly at Sébastien. She really didn’t want to disappoint them and tell them she was selling the shop, not right now with so much excitement in the air.

Anouk nodded keenly. ‘Absolute queen.’ She grinned. ‘Loved her.’