We continue our ACP Confinement Chronicles by asking our members how they are getting through periods of confinement. 

For our second installment, meet author and ACP member Bill Pearl.

Bill, what feelings come up when you think back to your confinement in the US?    

A tale of two cities, redux. It was the best of times (I was writing a novel at home). It was the worst of times (I wanted to write it in Paris). It was the age of Wisdom for some (who masked and mitigated). It was the age of Foolishness for others who did not. It was the epoch of the Virus, an epoch of incredulity that a tiny germ could turn a massive planet upside down.  It was the season of Light as science created vaccines almost overnight. It was the season of Darkness as governments struggled to inoculate fast enough to save lives - three million lost. It was the spring of Hope as I pounded out a novel amid chaos. It was the winter of despair as I postponed my flight to Paris again and again.

I longed for the inspiration of the City of Light, but I could not come. So, I zoomed to France, to Rotary and the American Club. Where they still had Paris before them, but in lockdown, had nothing before them. The Gaulic heaven all around tarnished, feeling more like that place in the other direction – in short, the period has been so far from normal, that even the most optimistic voices, skilled at ferreting good from cauldrons of evil might only grimace and say, this too shall pass.

And by the way, I finished the novel, published it, and gave it the title “Mission in Paris 1990”.

For an extract from "Mission in Paris 1990" please visit The Bookshop.  And for more on Bill Pearl please visit billpearl.net.