The Rain Watcher

Travel Guide

Paris

France has not seen anything like the weather in the novel since 1910 for years. It is  a city deluged in more ways than one – by rain and the floods which follow. Mother Nature brings about a catastrophic event that will  cost many people a great deal such as their homes, businesses and even their lives.

They do say that when it rains, it pours and this could be the tagline for this novel. The city is threatened by a seemingly endless rainstorm that threatens to flood the city’s streets.

The Paris floods of 1910

The 1910 Great Flood of Paris was a catastrophe in which the Seine River burst its banks and flooded the city of Paris.  The Seine water level rose eight metres above the ordinary level.The novel looks at the differences between the world now and then as when the city flooded in 1910, the city might have been smaller and less modern but there was a greater sense of community. There was no one taking pictures instead of helping one another, and there was no ‘ save yourself’ mentality.

The River Seine

This acts as the artery of the story in many ways. Oriel takes someone on a boat ride around Paris to show them the city but to make plans they might need to put into practice if they are to escape the city when things get too much. Streets are blocked off, corned off and people are told to avoid certain areas as the city drowns. Cars are abandoned and lives ruined.

The story is also centered on the Paris attacks of 2015. When a city loses itself for a while, but never looses its heart or soul.

Paul and Lauren live in the countryside of France in a town called Venozan near Sevral, in Drome valley, France….