Fabrice Liegeois, setting a novel in Voorheesville

Fabrice Liegeois was raised and shaped by the grandmother he adored, Jeannine Robert. A blonde beauty who looked like Marlene Dietrich and spoke five languages, she killed an SS officer who fell in love with her during the German occupation of France. She knifed him in order to save her best friend, a Jew. The young women fled to Paris. Robert used the copy of “Mein Kampf” that the Nazi officer had given her as a sort of passport when she smuggled papers for the French resistance. When Liegeois was 8, he saw the American film “Heaven Can Wait” and thought of the football players as modern-day knights. He was determined to play American football — he did, for a French club team — and went on to become a sports journalist for L’Équipe. He is currently writing his second novel, which he describes as a waltz — with three interlocking steps in three different centuries — all set in Voorheesville. He was here to do research, and shares his passion for truth-seeking in this week’s podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.