Originally from Dunedin, New Zealand, Vera Moore acquired an international reputation as a concert pianist between 1920 and 1930.
When war broke out, Miss Moore was spending summer at her country cottage in Chandon on the Loire, believing it to be safer there than in London. After fleeing from occupied France, all trace of her was lost, causing great concern among friends in New Zealand and England. Christophe Baillat gives a gripping account of her escape from Chandon, and her life as a refugee in unoccupied France. News finally reached England through a friend in Tangier that Vera Moore was safe, in a small village in France's unoccupied zone.
Christophe Baillat has written about Victor Hugo and Nadar, Oberkampf, the Toile de Jouy, and Marcel Arland. He has played a major role in the literary activities of the Syndicat d'lnitiative intercommunale Jouy-en-Josas. "Vera Moore, Pianiste, de Dunedin d Jouy-en-Josas" is the first literary work to be dedicated to the pianist.