It had been such a traumatic time for the family that new starts were necessary. Nancy’s move to France was the most permanent. Having gone there at the end of the war ostensibly to do business for Heywood Hill’s bookshop but really to be near her beloved Colonel, she had such success with her novel The Pursuit of Love that she lived in Paris and later in Versailles for the rest of her life. Initially she lived in small hotels or rented flats on the Left Bank, near to the Colonel, and finally settled at 7 rue Monsieur where she remained until 1966. There she was looked after by her devoted maid Marie and shared the flat with a ginger and white cat given to her by Diana and a white hen. The cat and the hen never bothered one another. Her happiness at being financially independent at last was marred by the fact that although she was in love with the Colonel for the rest of her life, his passion for her was largely over by the time she came to live in Paris. They remained close lifelong friends but she had to share him with other women and also with General de Gaulle, in whose government he served, and make the most of the time they spent together.
