I’m delighted to host the lovely Michèle Phoenix on the blog today as she shares her deeply layered characters, Cal and Ceelie, divided by era and a World War in her time slip novel, Fragments of Light.

Michèle has provided loving insights into her main characters and glimpses into this story that has garnered rave reviews, including this one and only Rachel McMillan:

“Deeply personal and beautifully humane, Phoenix once again asserts her power as one of the most moving and lyrical voices in inspirational fiction.” —Rachel McMillan, author of The London Restoration

I hope you enjoy Michèle’s feature today and her generosity in providing a print copy as a give away to one of my readers. Enter via the Rafflecopter form below.

An impossible decision in the chaos of D-Day.

Ripples that cascade seventy-five years into the present.

And two lives transformed by the tenuous resolve to reach out of the darkness toward fragments of light.

Cancer stole everything from Ceelie—her peace of mind, her selfimage, perhaps even her twenty-three-year marriage to her college sweetheart, Nate. Without the support of Darlene, her quirky elderly friend, she may not have been able to endure so much loss.

So when Darlene’s own prognosis turns dire, Ceelie can’t refuse her seemingly impossible request—to find a WWII paratrooper named Cal, the father who disappeared when Darlene was an infant, leaving a lifetime of desolation in his wake.

The search that begins in the farmlands of Missouri eventually leads Ceelie to a small town in Normandy, where she uncovers the harrowing tale of the hero who dropped off-target into occupied France.

Alternating between Cal’s D-Day rescue by two French sisters and Ceelie’s present-day journey through trial and heartbreak, Fragments of Light explores a timeless question: When life becomes unbearable, will you surrender to the darkness or dare to press toward a lingering light?

Introducing Cal & Ceelie

Cal

Physical Stats

Height: 6 ft

Hair colour & style: Thick, dark hair when he’s still on the farm. A tight military cut after he joins the 101^st Airborne.

Eye colour: Hazel

Dress sense: Before 1943 – farm-appropriate work clothes. After 1943 – Military fatigues, uniforms and jump gear.

Resembles…

How I picture Cal before and during the war.

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Strengths

Certainty – When Cal meets Claire at the Servicemen’s Center in downtown Chicago during his last leave before being deployed to England, there isn’t a doubt in his mind that this is the woman he’s supposed to marry. They say their “I dos” two days later.

Devotion – When Cal jumps over Normandy in the early morning of D-Day, he carries a picture of Claire and their newborn infant in his breast pocket. As committed as he is to freeing France from its oppressors, his deepest yearning is to return home when it’s over and finally meet his daughter.

Courage – When the castle in which Cal is taken in by two young French sisters is invaded by rogue German troops, he doesn’t hesitate to place himself between the villagers and enemy fire.

Vulnerabilities

An overdeveloped sense of personal responsibility – If there’s such a thing as “reckless responsibility,” it’s a defining trait in Cal. The same impetus that made him join the war effort leads him to make an unthinkable decision after he finally gets home.

Passions

Farming – A few glimpses into Cal’s past, offered by yellowed snapshots and letters to his mother, describe a hard-working, devoted son who derived deep joy from life on the family homestead in rural Missouri.

Freedom – When WWII begins, Cal enlists without hesitation, eager to help free France from German occupation.

What book would he recommend?

I’m guessing the Farmer’s Almanac might have been the closest thing to a book in Cal’s life.

Your inspiration for the character

Cal is an amalgam of the veterans I met in Normandy while shooting “The Girl Who Wore Freedom,” a documentary for which I was the primary translator. Hearing their firsthand stories, watching the memories play out in darkness and light on their faces… I simply had to craft a character that embodied their courage, kindness and brokenness.

CECELIA (CEELIE) DONOVAN

Physical Stats

Height: 5’5”

Hair colour & style: Before chemo, shoulder length, wavy, golden-brown

Eye colour: Brown

Dress sense: Business casual for a journalist on the go.

Resembles…

A 40-year-old Marcia Gay Harden

Strengths

Passion – Ceelie is an investigative journalist who began her career with a degree in literature and criminology. With her trademark “high heels and chutzpah,” she worked up the ranks of a regional newspaper to the position of Editor in Chief.

Resilience – When Ceelie learns that she has cancer, she wonders if she possesses the courage it will take to face the disease and live with its aftereffects. After her husband, Nate, rips the rug out from under her on the day she finishes chemotherapy, she is forced to dig deep into the kind of strength she never suspected she could muster.

Loyalty – Ceelie loves wholeheartedly. When her elderly friend, Darlene, asks her to launch into an impossible search for a WWI veteran who disappeared seventy-four years before, she doesn’t hesitate. Her friend is ill. She needs closure. Ceelie will do whatever it takes—including flying to Normandy with her estranged husband—to get the answers Darlene needs.

Vulnerabilities

Survivorship – Cancer changes everything. The choice Nate makes at the end of Ceelie’s treatment feels like it upends the last stable fragment in her life. She struggles to recover traces of her former self. Who is she now that her body has been so thoroughly altered? How can she fight when her strength has been so depleted?

Passion

Enigmas – Ceelie loves elucidating mysteries. It’s what sends her and Darlene on a road trip to the small town of Kinley, Missouri, and into a dilapidated farmhouse Darlene’s ancestors once occupied. It’s also what drives her to research one paratrooper’s experiences on D-Day, which in turn leads her to a castle in Normandy.

What book would she recommend?

Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier – A classic mystery that plays out in a grand old manor haunted by the ghost of Maxim de Winter’s deceased wife. I think Ceelie would be fascinated by the psychological drama and well-crafted intrigue!

Your inspiration for the character:

I am a three-time cancer survivor. Just over two years ago, I awoke in the hospital and listened dumbfounded as my surgeon informed me that the mastectomy I’d chosen to prevent a recurrence had actually revealed three malignant tumors.

When I began writing Fragments of Light, I knew I wanted Ceelie to embody “brave”—the kind that shows up in major and minor forms when life dishes out challenges that feel insurmountable. Survival is miraculous. But before the miracles happen, there are periods of hopelessness and waves of exhaustion that threaten to derail positive outcomes. I love Ceelie’s transformation from victim to overcomer, from distraught sufferer to empowered warrior.
 
Background to the story

In 2018, The Girl Who Wore Freedom, a documentary filming in Normandy, asked me to come along as a translator for the shoot. I had no idea how that experience would inform Cal’s storyline in Fragments of Light. Staying in the places where brutal battles had raged, looking into the faces of veterans as they retold their stories and entering into relationship with French people who had watched the Allies liberate their land—it was all so sobering, galvanizing and inspiring.

The contemporary storyline came directly from my own life as well. As mentioned before, I am a three-time cancer survivor. But I know overcoming the disease isn’t just about the patient. It’s about those who walk alongside the sufferer too. The husbands, parents, children, caregivers. As good as we’ve become at discussing the disease, I think we still fail as a society at acknowledging the life-altering, long-term impact it can have on the network that surrounds the person fighting for his/her life.

Because of that, I wanted Fragments of Light to be a study in courage. Ceelie’s own bravery is flanked by Nate’s exhausted mettle, Darlene’s against-all-odds friendship and her war-hero father’s wounded valiance in the aftermath of D-Day. Every one of them represents an extension of the fortitude Ceelie incarnates—reaching toward the light even when the surrounding darkness feels too oppressive to overcome.

Thank you, Michèle

Invest some time watching this book trailer for Fragments of Light – it’s one of the very best book trailers I’ve seen!

Born in France to a Canadian father and an American mother, Michèle Phoenix is an international writer and speaker. Two of her five novels have been Christy Award finalists. A prominent advocate for Third Culture Kids, she travels globally to consult and teach on topics related to this unique people group. Michèle is a three-time cancer survivor who understands the gift in every breath and milestone. She is inspired by good conversation, investigative travel and paths to healing.

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Buy at Amazon: Fragments of Light or Koorong

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