Changes and Omissions
While I love writing the novels from multiple points of view, having two heroines as is the case with Enemies means that each character only gets the equivalent of half a book to tell her tale. Adding to that, the Revolution took up the last 1/3 of the book, and that's where I really had to skip over a lot of stuff and eliminate characters in order to get the impact of that time on both Jeanne and Adelaide.
Here are some of the omissions and / or changes I made to their stories:
After leaving the convent, Jeanne had a series of jobs and was even engaged to a hairdresser! Then she landed at Labille's and the rest is history.
Barry's family played a larger role in her life than in the book - he had another brother in addition to Guillaume (Jeanne's husband) and another sister, and they, and their spouses and children, featured quite large at Louveciennes when Jeanne was living there during the 1780s, as well as her mother's relatives the Becus. Jeanne was very fond of one of her "nieces" and there are persistent rumors that in fact the child, called Betsi and adored by Jeanne, was actually her own. One of the things I found very interesting researching Jeanne is that her obvious barrenness and/or lack of even a miscarriage in her early years, is never commented on by any of her biographers.
After she was allowed to leave the Abbey at Pont Aux Dames where she was sent after Louis' death, Jeanne had a series of stops in different places before finally being allowed back to Louveciennes, and I don't cover that in the book.
Before meeting Hercule, and during this interim period, she actually had a rather torrid love affair with an Englishman called Henry Seymour, who was a neighbor of hers at the chateau she stayed at before regaining Louveciennes. The affair eventually went south, and some of her letters to him still exist, rather pleading and desperate.
I had to downplay the whole "Jeanne as a royalist spy" that some historians believe was the reason for her frequent trips to England, with the stolen jewels only being a pretext. It's possible, but in the interests of time I didn't get into it. There is no doubt she helped friends as best she could, but probably not more than that.
The burying of her treasure in the gardens at Louveciennes might be just legend. Certainly, she would have started hiding her riches, but I spoke with a historian at Louveciennes and he said there has never been any evidence of any treasure being uncovered in the gardens (and many people have looked!). Perhaps it was all quickly taken by the Revolution, but it's odd not even a trace or a piece was missed.
Because so much less is known about Adelaide, there was less to exclude. On the other hand, I was less true to her real character than I was with Jeanne. There is no doubt that Adelaide was a superior, righteous and rigid pain in the ass, but she was also very intelligent, and I portray her as quite obtuse and oblivious to obvious truths. Click here for more on my thoughts on that.
Here are some of the omissions and / or changes I made to their stories:
After leaving the convent, Jeanne had a series of jobs and was even engaged to a hairdresser! Then she landed at Labille's and the rest is history.
Barry's family played a larger role in her life than in the book - he had another brother in addition to Guillaume (Jeanne's husband) and another sister, and they, and their spouses and children, featured quite large at Louveciennes when Jeanne was living there during the 1780s, as well as her mother's relatives the Becus. Jeanne was very fond of one of her "nieces" and there are persistent rumors that in fact the child, called Betsi and adored by Jeanne, was actually her own. One of the things I found very interesting researching Jeanne is that her obvious barrenness and/or lack of even a miscarriage in her early years, is never commented on by any of her biographers.
After she was allowed to leave the Abbey at Pont Aux Dames where she was sent after Louis' death, Jeanne had a series of stops in different places before finally being allowed back to Louveciennes, and I don't cover that in the book.
Before meeting Hercule, and during this interim period, she actually had a rather torrid love affair with an Englishman called Henry Seymour, who was a neighbor of hers at the chateau she stayed at before regaining Louveciennes. The affair eventually went south, and some of her letters to him still exist, rather pleading and desperate.
I had to downplay the whole "Jeanne as a royalist spy" that some historians believe was the reason for her frequent trips to England, with the stolen jewels only being a pretext. It's possible, but in the interests of time I didn't get into it. There is no doubt she helped friends as best she could, but probably not more than that.
The burying of her treasure in the gardens at Louveciennes might be just legend. Certainly, she would have started hiding her riches, but I spoke with a historian at Louveciennes and he said there has never been any evidence of any treasure being uncovered in the gardens (and many people have looked!). Perhaps it was all quickly taken by the Revolution, but it's odd not even a trace or a piece was missed.
Because so much less is known about Adelaide, there was less to exclude. On the other hand, I was less true to her real character than I was with Jeanne. There is no doubt that Adelaide was a superior, righteous and rigid pain in the ass, but she was also very intelligent, and I portray her as quite obtuse and oblivious to obvious truths. Click here for more on my thoughts on that.
