Interview: Jeena Murphy talks about Rue de Paradis

Jeena Murphy has written and produced five Insight and Spectrum documentaries for Radio New Zealand. She has also co-won a Sir Julius Vogel award for the fan fiction documentary Renaldo: First Sheep on the Moon. Her short stories have appeared in anthologies, along with plays and short stories in the New Zealand School Journal. Jeena talks to NZ Booklovers about her debut novel.

Tell us a little about Rue de Paradis.

France 1933 - Yvette flees to Paris with her little sister Janie to protect her from the village patriarch and predator. They find sanctuary with their cousin Daniel at the prestigious Blum Foundry on Rue de Paradis, and Yvette secures work as an artist’s model for the Academy. Her love of sculpting grows, along with her romance with foundry owner Oscar Blum’s estranged son, Steffan.

Steffan wants to protect the Blum Foundry as it’s under threat from anti-Jewish sentiments. He joins Daniel’s chapter of the communist party to challenge the Croix de Feu, a rival fascist group.

When Yvette is caught up in an ambush, Steffan and Daniel are compelled to act, threatening the Blum Foundry, and endangering everyone on Rue de Paradis.

Rue de Paradis is the first of a trilogy that spans generations and continents, linked through a statue created by artist Demétre Chiparus, titled ‘Semiramis, Queen of Heaven.’ 

What inspired you to write this book?

When I started work on this project, it was a contemporary novel set in present-day Wellington with Darren as the main character. I wanted Darren to have an obsession, and I landed on Art Deco as I lived in an Art Deco house. When I found out about Demétre Chiparus and his beautiful and intricate statues, I knew this would be Darren’s obsession.

Chiparus used live models for his sculpting,  and I instantly pictured Yvette's arms out, balancing on her toes, posing as Semiramis. Yvette morphed from a minor character into a main character with a fully formed backstory, which plays out in Rue de Paradis, book one of the trilogy. I wanted to explore the foundries that made the pieces and Steffan’s character emerged as the estranged son of Oscar Blum, the Blum Foundry owner. I needed him to be a new arrival to Paris so we could experience this wonderful city through his eyes.

So, Rue de Paradis is book one and Deco Boy is book two of the series. We return to complete Yvette and Steffan’s story in book three. 

What research was involved?

A LOT!!!  I love doing the research, and very sadly, I had to go over to Paris. I followed the process of how the statues were made. The sculptures' topics and themes were from Chiparus, who drew inspiration from dancers, performers, and how people moved and used their bodies. Chiparus sculpted the pieces in a plasticine, clay-like material. He’d hand this over to the foundry, which would make moulds of the sculpture. They’d send the moulds back to Chiparus who would labour over the moulds to make them perfect. He’d return the moulds and they’d do the first casts of the bronze pieces. Knowing Chiparus, they’d probably have to do several test casts after he continued to fine-tune the moulds. The limbs and faces of the pieces were hand-carved from elephant ivory. My characters Steffan and Daniel do this job. The statue’s parts were held together by tiny screws.

The foundries did mass-produce the pieces, but the process was very labour-intensive, and the more complex a piece, the fewer copies they made. The foundries would pay the artist a commission on the sales of the pieces, which wasn’t always lucrative for the artists.  

My character Steffan works on Rue de Paradis at the Blum Foundry. It was the address of the original Etling Foundry that was associated with the sculptor Chiparus, another character, but also a real artist. I changed the foundry's name to give me more freedom to tell my story. The Lalique Gallerie is still on Rue de Paradis, as is the little theatre featured in the novel. The Etling Foundry became a health food shop, but across the road is a former glass factory that I used as a basis for the Blum Foundry.

Yvette is my other main character, and she begins her artist's journey at the Academie de la Grande Chaumière. She starts out modelling for the artists, then becomes an artist and sculptor. When I write about real places, I like to visit them so I can feel their space, soak up the atmosphere, and remember what it was like when I put the scene together.

In my earlier drafts, my readers and fellow authors said they enjoyed the historical details, so I try to be accurate. I learnt a lot about sculpting, how the foundry made the sculptures, Art Deco and the decorative arts movement in the 1930s.

What was your routine or process when writing this book?

I wrote the original drafts a long time ago, but I got serious about finishing it at the tail end of the Covid restrictions. I’d joined Kathryn Burnett’s Writing Room and rewrote most of it on Tuesday evenings, and for two 90-minute writing blocks at the weekend.

I work full-time; well, it’s worse than that - I run a business and have staff, so my life is really busy and full-on. I asked Kathryn to be my writing accountability coach and she’d ring me on a Thursday. I’d commit to a goal for that weekend and tell her what it was. She’d check in over the weekend to ‘see how I was getting on’. I couldn’t lie to Kathryn or deflect, so I’d just get on and do what I’d committed to do.

During the process, I do need bigger chunks of time, and I take a few days off work to concentrate on aspects of craft or writing key scenes. I do plot the story out, but it can change depending on what the characters are motivated to do.

For Rue de Paradis, I had a big board and wrote key points about each chapter on a post-it to make sure I made each chapter work, covered off key story beats, character action, inciting incidents, and built in jeopardy to create hurdles towards achieving their goals. I really like my characters, so I find it hard to do mean things to them. It doesn’t make for good reading, though.

After I finished a draft that actually worked, I also got a structural assessment and made further changes. Near the end of the process, I commissioned a full edit with Sue Copsey and did the next round of updates based on her feedback.

If a soundtrack were made to accompany this book, name a song or two you would include.

The soundtrack would have a lot of jazz, avant-garde music and music about societal change.

Big band music like Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, Glenn Miller.

Women performers - Edith Piaf, Ella Fitzgerald and Etta James.

Actual songs:

At last – Etta James version

The Boy in the Bubble – by Paul Simon, but the Patti Smith version.

Everybody wants to rule the world – Tears for Fears

Redemption Song – Bob Marley.

If your book were made into a movie, who would you like to see playing the lead characters?

Yvette

• Lili Reinhart

• Thomasin McKenzie – NZ actress

• Gwendoline Taylor – NZ actress

Steffan

New Zealand actors

• KJ Apa

• Jay Ryan

• Dwayne Cameron

What did you enjoy the most about writing this novel?

I like the earlier drafts when I’m world building and developing the story. I’m not so keen on all the refining drafts, which is why it’s taken me so long to finish this novel.

What did you do to celebrate finishing this book?

I went to Europe and visited some of my favourite places in Paris. We were going to see family in Strasbourg, but I built in ‘research time’ too.

What is the favourite book you have read so far this year and why?

I keep coming back to Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel. I love this book as it’s part of a trilogy of linked novels, and I like how she has places, items, and people threaded through the three novels in surprising and innovative ways. 

What’s next on the agenda for you?

Deco Boy, book two of the trilogy. I’ve got 50,000 words written already and want to get the first draft completed by the end of the year, and the second draft completed by February 2026. Elizabeth Knox has offered to edit the draft, and we’ve agreed on February. I’m beyond thrilled with the offer, and I’m deadline-driven, so it gives me a goal to work towards.

www.jeenamurphy.com