BELLOWS FALLS, Vt. – Local author Bill Lockwood will hold a reading and signing event for his newly released historical fiction novel, “Gare de Lyon,” at Village Square Booksellers, 32 The Square, in Bellows Falls Friday, Sept. 17 at 6 p.m.
His four previous books portray adventures set in the ’70, ‘80s, and early ‘90s. With this new one, he has taken on occupied Paris and France in World War II.
Mary O’Riley, native of Boston, goes to Paris to study art on the eve of WWII. Caught in the occupation, she works in a bakery but finds herself frequently carrying messages for her boss. When the Gestapo raids the bakery and arrests the owner, Mary must flee Paris to avoid her own arrest, and the Resistance group she has helped assigns her to escort a downed RSF flyer south to Lyon.
Freddy Winston volunteered to fly secret missions to occupied France. On one of his runs, gunfire surprises him as Resistance members unload passengers and supplies. The plane catches fire, stranding him behind enemy lines. Freddy doesn’t like that Mary is Irish. She insists she is just American. They may not like each other but discover quickly they must team up to reach their mutual goal of escaping the Nazis.
A lifetime participant in community theater, Lockwood was stage managing Main Street Arts’ production of “Cabaret” that was to be presented at the Bellows Falls Opera House, but it was postponed just before opening in March 2020. He says, “That play was set in pre-WWII Berlin, but working on it I began thinking about an idea I had for a novel set in wartime Paris. After the lockdown, I had plenty of time to develop my idea and write this book.”
Lockwood has livened up his readings by recruiting readers from the local theater community which he is part of. For this reading, he will have parts of the book read by his wife Jeanie Levesque, Joan Donohue, Samaira Aldrich, fellow local writer and neighbor Eileen Charbonneau, her husband Ed Gullo, and newcomer Todd Hutchinson.
Lockwood says, “The readings for my last book, ‘The Monsignor’s Agents’ released in April 2020 during the lockdown were done virtually. It will be so good to be doing it live again.”
Lockwood also writes articles contributing regularly to The Vermont Journal and The Shopper, and he covers local community theater for The Eagle Times.
To reserve a book for this event or for further information, call Village Square Booksellers at 802-463-9404 or contact them through info@villagesquarebooks.com.