Behind the Book: Fallen for France

Fallen for France began with a real place and a haunting question. As a young woman, Elizabeth lived and worked in Morocco’s High Atlas Mountains, where the rugged landscape and the deep bond between humans and animals left an indelible mark on her imagination. Decades later, while researching the little-known history of animals in World War I, she discovered a story that brought those early experiences flooding back.

Set against the sweeping backdrop of wartime Europe, Fallen for France is a novel about art, war, and an impossible love. It explores what happens when the worlds we build for ourselves collide with forces beyond our control, and how the connections we forge with other living beings can sustain us through the darkest times.

Drawing on years of meticulous historical research, Elizabeth weaves together intimate character studies with the panoramic scope of a world at war. The result is her most ambitious and deeply personal work of fiction, a novel that bridges her celebrated nonfiction storytelling with the emotional depth and imaginative freedom of literary fiction.

Fallen for France arrives August 2026 from Random House.