World War II novels

Interview with E. Shaver Booksellers

| Ted Wheeler

Check out this fun interview with E. Shaver Booksellers of Savannah about writing The War Begins in Paris. A little sample is below.

I’ll be headed down to Georgia in February for the Savannah Book Festival. SBF is one of the best book fests in the country, and it’s known for taking great care of it’s authors. I can’t wait!

What’s the strangest thing you had to do to create this story?

In order to better understand what it was like to be Mielle, I ended up buying a pair of brogan shoes and a long canvas jacket like one that she wears in the novel. Wearing her shoes and clothes helped a lot to feel what she would have felt, even though I was walking around Omaha and she was walking around Paris. Thinking about writing this novel during the Covid pandemic feels strange too, when put in comparison with what foreign correspondents experienced in 1938, on the edge of the war starting. That sense of looming catastrophe; the uncertainty and chaos; even having been personally rushed out of Paris. The details don’t match up, of course, but there was a lot of experiential overlap that helped get me in character.

Kirkus Reviews The War Begins in Paris

| Ted Wheeler

The first trade review of The War Begins in Paris is in, from the typically speedy, and often grumpy, Kirkus Reviews. All in all, it’s pretty effusive for Kirkus. I’ll count that as a win.

You can read the whole review here, but below are some highlights.

“Wheeler traces the intense, sexually charged friendship of two American reporters from their first meeting in a Paris café in 1938 and through the ensuing war. The prologue describes Jane Anderson, nicknamed the Georgia Peach, and Marthe Hess, called Mielle, with ominous matter-of-factness so reminiscent of an Orson Welles narration that readers will rush to Google their names to see if either actually existed.”

“Wheeler’s depiction of Jane shows how dangerously appealing authoritarianism can be and how corrosive it is to one’s character.”

“This retro yet oddly fresh take on WWII captures the romance of wartime, but also the decadence and desperation.”

James Han Mattson Blurb

| Ted Wheeler

It’s such an honor to have the amazing James Han Mattson lend his support to my new novel, The War Begins in Paris!

We went on a short book tour together in 2018 when both of our debut novels were new and both edited by Vivian Lee, though we hadn’t ever met in person until that first reading at Beaverdale Books in Des Moines. I’m happy to count Jim as a friend now. His novel Reprieve was a powerhouse and he has a new one out next year to add to his debut, The Lost Prayers of Ricky Graves.

“Propulsive, immersive, and beautifully rendered, Theodore Wheeler’s The War Begins in Paris is that rare novel that’s both contemplative and energetic, pulse-pounding and utterly devastating. Through Mielle and Jane, Wheeler deftly illuminates themes of friendship, love, sacrifice, and heroism, and shows us how loyalty and conviction can move in unpredictable patterns under wartime duress. This is a major gut-punch of a novel, and I, for one, am thankful it exists.”

—James Han Mattson, author of Reprieve

The War Begins in Paris will be published on November 14, 2023, but you can pre-order your copy now. (Order a signed copy here and have you shipped to you in November.)

Ron Hansen blurb

| Ted Wheeler

What a thrill to have the great novelist Ron Hansen put his recommendation behind The War Begins in Paris! And even more so since Ron will be appearing with me, in conversation, at Politics & Prose Bookstore in Washington DC on January 13!

So many of Ron’s novels have been an inspiration to me. The prologue to The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford is something I always go back to when trying to write the opening pages of a novel. It’s perfect. And Mariette from Ron’s Mariette in Ecstasy was a model for the character of Mielle in my new novel.

Still buzzing over this. What a rare mix of generosity and genius.

“Theodore Wheeler’s informed and fascinating novel uses the invented character of fashion reporter Marthe Hess to float us through this dark milieu and acquaint us with the financial, antisemitic, and often unthinking justifications for a journalist’s alliance with evil. The War Begins in Paris is a great idea for a book and it’s insightfully and thrillingly told.”

-Ron Hansen, author of Hitler’s Niece

The War Begins in Paris will be published on November 14, 2023, but you can pre-order your copy now. (Order a signed copy here and have you shipped to you in November.)