I also go to quarters one might have been tempted to overlook. The streets around the Gare du Nord, for instance, hardly seem inspiring territory. Yet when I researched the films and cinemas of the 1920s Hemingway era, I came across a hidden gem. The Louxor was a well-known cinema at the intersection of the boulevards of Rochechouart and Magenta. It fell into ruin, but has just this spring re-opened, restored to its original splendour – it’s like an astounding Egyptian palace. Nearby, between the boulevard de Rochechouart and the foot of Montmartre, in a leafy little square, is the modest Theatre de l’Atelier, where Anouilh’s Antigone was performed during the German occupation.I immediately chose this as a location for a wartime Resistance drama in my story.