✨ Why I Wrote The Call of Destiny
A Preface in Uncertain Times
As I am preparing to launch The Call of Destiny, Codename Violette I wrote the following preface not just as a tribute to Muriel Byck, the real-life SOE agent who inspired the novel, but as a reflection on what it means to resist—in any era.
I’m sharing it here as the first post in my From the Books section, where I’ll explore the inspiration, emotional undercurrents, and behind-the-scenes moments of the stories I write.
Preface
As I was writing Muriel Byck’s story, The Call of Destiny, during the spring of 2025, I realized this spring will likely be remembered as one of those transitional moments in history we later call “a major shift for humanity.”
Since the end of World War II, we in the West have rarely lived through such intense global turmoil. Not even the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, marking the end of the Cold War, nor the 2020 COVID pandemic, seem to compare to the large-scale, volatile impact of 2025. We are witnessing a realignment of (geo)political powers that feels unprecedented in recent decades. No one knows how it will unfold, but while the world shakes like a giant tree, pieces will fall, the dust will settle, and we will find ourselves in a new, unfamiliar landscape—one we must learn to navigate as best we can.
Why begin the preface to the third book in my Timeless Agents series with this reflection? Because, as a historical fiction author writing about another great upheaval—World War II—I am reminded of how deeply these stories still matter. In times of uncertainty, people often turn to the past in search of understanding.
I’m afraid those answers won’t all be found in books about secret agents operating behind enemy lines in France. Our world today is far more complex, marked by cyberattacks, disinformation campaigns, trade wars, and space-bound surveillance. The weapons are more advanced. The stakes feel abstract, yet terrifyingly real.
Still, the essence of resistance—of human choice—has not changed.
In the 1940s, they tapped out coded messages on unreliable wireless sets, cycled between safe houses with false identity papers, and sabotaged enemy infrastructure with plastic explosives—all while the Gestapo hunted them relentlessly. That isn’t what resistance would look like today. And yet…
What endures—what is eternal—is our capacity to choose. To choose between right and wrong. Between taking action or looking away. Between defending freedom and democracy, or surrendering them to oligarchs, dictators, and demagogues.
The love of freedom, of peace, of home and safety, of being who we truly are—quirky or otherwise—is not something that can be taken from us… unless we allow it.
May the courage of Muriel Byck, and of all the SOE agents, the maquisards, and the countless unnamed supporters of the French Resistance, shine like a guiding light in the darkness. They did not back down. They were willing to risk everything for the freedom of others. They resisted an enemy so powerful and so brutal that even the bravest were afraid.
We are afraid today. We are unsure. We are overwhelmed.
But we must remember: we still have a choice.
A Voice Remembered
Muriel Byck’s story came to me like a whisper carried on the wind—quiet, easy to miss, yet impossible to ignore. There is so little known about her, and what remains is scattered in archives, brief mentions, and the memories of those who knew her once. But the more I uncovered, the more I felt drawn to her—not just as a heroine of the SOE, but as a young woman navigating heartbreak, isolation, and profound bravery during one of history’s darkest hours.
This book is not a biography, though it is grounded in research and truth. It is an act of remembrance—a tribute to the silences, the sacrifices, and the quiet strength of those history almost forgot. Through fiction, I hope to offer Muriel something she never had in life: a voice.
As you turn these pages, I invite you to walk alongside her. To witness not only the extraordinary courage of her mission, but the deeply human moments that shaped her: her longing, her resolve, her solitude, and her spark.
In telling her story, I’ve come to believe that remembering is itself an act of resistance. Against indifference. Against forgetting. Against the idea that any one life—especially a woman’s life—can be deemed too quiet to matter.
Muriel mattered. And I hope, by the end of this book, you’ll feel that too.
A Story in Two Timelines
In this dual-timeline novel, Muriel’s story unfolds alongside that of Sigal—a modern-day athlete struggling in a COVID lockdown, grieving and adrift, who stumbles upon a trace of the past she didn’t expect to find.
Through Sigal, I wanted to explore how the legacy of courage can ripple across generations, how history can echo in our bones even when we don’t fully understand why.
Sigal’s search begins with a medal, but it becomes a journey of remembrance—of her family, her identity, and ultimately, herself. Her discoveries mirror our own longings: to connect, to understand where we come from, and to make meaning in uncertain times.
As she pieces together Muriel’s hidden life, Sigal begins to heal. And perhaps, through her, so do we.
✨ The Call of Destiny: Codename Violette launches 15 July 2025
