VILLA SANARY, CÔTE D’AZUR, 14 JULY 1939
The grand marble foyer was bursting with colour and excited conversation. Politicians, artists, writers, socialites and local French gentry sipped champagne and martinis, and greeted each other with kisses to each cheek, merry backslaps and firm handshakes. A five-piece jazz band played in the corner, and the warm summer air was thick with expensive perfume, pollen and a hint of cigar smoke.
In the simple uniform of a housemaid, Margot Bisset squeezed through the crowd, slipping past women in drop-waist sequinned gowns and sheer silk sheaths, and men in tailored tuxedos. Her job for this first part of the evening was to carry a cup of incense among the guests, filling the room with wafts of cloves and orange oil…
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