Secrets of Paris, from the Lux to the Lovely

It's midnight here in Melbourne. Autumn has come to the hills. The garden outside is invisible under a cloak of mist and the heater is fighting to keep the first frost of the year at bay.I have spent the past few hours at my desk – overcrowded with the debris of research – writing my novel The Picnic, which is the fictionalised version of the real story behind Joan Lindsay's gothic tale. Those of