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Books on the Rise is joined by an incredible historical fiction duo, Paul French and Anne Sebba to discuss French's latest novel, Her Lotus Year, in our bookshop.

New York Times bestselling author Paul French examines a controversial and revealing period in the early life of the legendary Wallis, Duchess of Windsor–her one year in China. Before she was the Duchess of Windsor, Bessie Wallis Warfield was Mrs. Wallis Spencer, wife of Earl "Win" Spencer, a US Navy aviator. From humble beginnings in Baltimore, she rose to marry a man who gave up his throne for her. But what made Wallis Spencer, Navy Wife, the woman who could become the Duchess of Windsor? The answers lie in her one-year sojourn in China.

Paul French was born in London and lived and worked in Shanghai for many years. His book Midnight in Peking was a New York Times Bestseller and a BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week. He received the Mystery Writers' of America Edgar award for Best Fact Crime and a Crime Writers' Association (UK) Dagger award for non-fiction. His book City of Devils: A Shanghai Noir received much praise with The Economist writing, '…in Mr French the city has its champion storyteller.' Both Midnight in Peking and City of Devils are currently in development for film.

Anne Sebba is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature (FRSL) a biographer, lecturer, journalist, former Reuters foreign correspondent and author of eleven books for adults. She read History at King's College London and her first job was at the BBC World Services in the Arabic Department. Her latest book is Ethel Rosenberg: An American Tragedy (2021 publication and film rights sold to Miramax) and before that she wrote about Paris from 1939-49 through women's eyes, Les Parisiennes: How the Women of Paris Lived, Loved and Died in the 1940's published in 2016, 'a standout social history,' according to the US trade journal, Booklist and winner of the Franco-British Society prize. Film rights have also been sold, with a multi-episode TV drama planned.