Village of Scoundrels by Margi Preus

Village of Scoundrels is a fictional story based on true events that happened in Le Chambon-sure-Lignon and nearby villages located in southern France during World War II. These villages worked together to save countless Jewish children from being murdered by the Nazis.

The story begins in early December of 1942 with the arrival of twenty-two-year-old Inspector Perdant to the fictional village of Les Lauzes. The region where the village is situated has been "living in its own little way outside the rules of the current government". Perdant is determined to see that change. He knows that the village boarding houses are likely hiding foreign Jews and other "undesirables".

Leon and Sylvie, brother and sister, live in a boarding house called Sunnyside. Henni, along with Madeleine, lives in a house called the Beehive along with many children who have come from French concentrations camps. Henni was rescued from the concentration camp at Guz by Madame Desault, who is a Jew. The Beehive is run by Monsieur Boulet. Food and care have transformed the children from being malnourished, angry and prone to stealing, to smiling and healthy.

One night Perdant, out walking the deserted streets, catches young Jean-Paul Filon, a seventeen-year-old riding a bicycle without a headlight and tickets him. Later that night, in his boarding house called Sunnyside, Jean-Paul tells Sylvie that the ticket is useful because it acts as a proof of identity signed by a local policeman. This further cements his forged identity as Jean-Paul Filon. He shows Sylvie his identity card, anxious to see if it is good enough. Leon examines it and believes it to be very good.

Jean-Paul tells them about working as an office equipment repairman. His real name is Otto and one day he went to the office of the prefect of Nice on the pretext of repairing a typewriter in the prefect's office. There he was able to type a letter authorizing the release of his mother Eva Grabowski. The letter worked and they were able to come to Les Lauzes, with fake identities: Otto as Jean-Paul Filon and his mother as a middle-aged Turkish-Russian spinster named Mademoiselle Varushkin.

Inspector Perdant's attempt to "pay a friendly call" on the Beehive boarding house one snowy evening is thwarted by Sylvie, Leon and Jean-Paul. Hannukah celebrations are happening in the boarding house and if Perdant enters, it will be disastrous. To prevent this, Sylvie, Leon and Jean-Paul engage him on the doorstep of the boardinghouse. When Perdant mentions that he heard singing, they begin to sing the Marseillaise loudly, drowning out the sound of the Hannukah celebrations going on inside and saving the Jewish children from certain discovery.

The next day Jean-Paul is visited by ten-year-old Jules who offers to help him. Jean-Paul warns Jules that helping is risky, that he can't know what the documents he delivers say or who they are for. Jules is undeterred and determined so Jean-Paul takes him on.

By December, 1942, wounded German soldiers are billeted at the hotel next to the boarding house where the Jewish children are living. Some of the children believe the presence of the Nazis is due to a letter some wrote protesting the roundup of thirteen thousand Jews in Paris, including four thousand children. However, some of the children believe that they must speak out against the Nazis and their French collaborators.

On Christmas Day 1942, the service at the village church prompts many to think about what is happening in their country and their little village as the pastor recounts the Christmas story. While each of the children have their own thoughts, Perdant is consumed by his thoughts about the teenagers in attendance. "Like that row of teenagers. That redheaded kid, for one. He'd seen him once pulling his sled along in the middle of the night. What had he been doing out at that hour?"

At the end of the service, Pastor Autin invites Perdant to his home for dinner but Perdant turns him down. Instead, Perdant warns Autin that he knows "...there are homes full of non-Aryans and anti-patriots." and that if he isn't careful he may be arrested too.

Perdant continues his snooping, determined to find out how the Jews are being safely brought to the village. He is determined to do something about the pastors whom he believes are deeply involved in rescuing Jewish children. In the winter of 1942-43 the two pastors and the school director are arrested. More men join the maqisards hiding in the forests. Leon disappears from school. Henni writes her aunt in Switzerland to try to get a visa. Jean-Paul, aided by Leon and Sylvie continues forging documents, ration cards and identities. And Madame Creneau who locates safe houses for the Jewish refugees and who helps them cross into Switzerland, decides that it is no longer safe to hide people. She asks Philippe to take on the task of helping them across the border into Switzerland.

When Jules and his friend Claude Dupont are caught painting anti-German slogans on the road, they are taken to Perdant who questions them. Protecting Claude who is actually giving Perdant clues as to what is going on, Jules maintains that Claude is slow. Perdant lets Claude go but decides to use Jules, whom he suspects of knowing much more than he lets on, as an informant.

As the Gestapo sets up more and more raids, and Perdant becomes determined to sniff out those helping hide the Jewish refugees it becomes necessary to move the refugees out of the village and plateau.  Philippe, Jean-Paul, and others work to help the refugees, while Jules works to convince Perdant that he has chosen the wrong side.

Discussion

Village of Scoundrels tells the story of a fictional French village that works together to save thousands of Jewish refugees from certain death during the Nazi occupation of France. The story is based on the real life events that occurred in the village of Le Chambon-Sur-Lignon during the course of the Second World War.

From 1940 until 1944, the residents of Le Chambon, led by Pastors Andre Trecome and Edouard Theis, helped over five thousand refugees, including up to three thousand Jewish refugees. The village is situated on the Vivarais Plateau in south-central France. Its past history of persecution of the largely Huguenot by French Catholics during the 16th to 18th century may have played a significant part in the resistance activities of the villagers who did not support the Vichy government led by Marshal Petain. However, the efforts to help the Jewish people in this region involved people from all faiths including Catholics, Jews, Evangelicals and nonbelievers.

Preus tailored many of the characters in her novel after real people. At the beginning of the novel Preus provides readers with a helpful alphabetical list of the cast of characters. At the back of the novel in the Epilogue, she describes the real life people who each character is based on. For example, Jean-Paul was based on Oscar Rosowsky, a Jewish teenager who wanted to study medicine and who became a master forger during the war. Oscar was able to forge a letter ordering the release of his mother from Rivesaltes internment camp. The character of Philippe who leads people to safety in Switzerland was inspired by Pierre Piton, who also was a passeur or "people smuggler". Catherine Cabessedes Colburn inspired the character of Celeste, the young girl from Paris who eventually carries messages and contraband for the maquis. Madame Desault, Madame Creneau , Henni and Max are also based on real life people. The character of Jules is based somewhat on Paul Majola who did make deliveries for Oscar Rosowsky. Inspector Perdant is loosely based on policeman Leopold Praly who was shot by the maquis eight months after arriving in Le Chambon.

Village of Scoundrels is a novel whose overarching theme is that of journeys. There are the physical journeys of the refugees rescued from the concentration camps on their way to safety in Les Lauzes, of the refugees from France to Switzerland. But there are also many personal journeys, ones from fear and inaction to courage and resistance. 

An example of this journey can be found in the character of Celeste, a young French girl who watches as events unfold in the village. However, at some point she can no longer just watch. When Mme. Creneau asks Celeste if she knows of anywhere they can hide the refugees safely for a short period of time, "Celeste's urge was to go home, climb into bed, and pull the covers over her head. " She believes everything is falling apart until Sylvie reminds her that "as long as there was something to do, there was hope." This inspires Celeste to tell Mme. Creneau about the abandoned chateau. Mme. Creneau now gives Celeste many responsibilities, which she steps up to take on.

As she and Philippe rush back to the chateau to help those hidden there, Celeste explains to Philippe how she became involved. "For a long time I watched you and others doing things, and I admired you...but I was too afraid. I didn't think I could do it -- I was sure I'd mess up. Then I went on a little mission. I was still afraid, but I was doing something. I had a little power. I could actually do something to resist. To fight back. And the oddest thing happened. That huge dark fear of what could happen -- it went away...I guess I had to do the thing I dreaded most in order to lose my fear of doing it."

Perhaps the most dramatic journey is that of Inspector Perdant. He is sent to a small French village to check up on the locals. It is suspected that the villagers are hiding Jewish children and other "undesirables" as Perdant refers to them. Upon his arrival, Perdant definitely senses that something is amiss in the village, although he's uncertain as to what it might be. He's determined to find the Jewish children he believes are being hidden. He comes to believe that almost everyone from the pastors, to the children to the farmers are complicit. And he is correct.

 His initial warnings and threats have little effect on the pastors or the farmers, so he decides to pressure ten-year-old Jules, a young boy who tends his goats on the hills surrounding the village. But Jules is not afraid of Perdant. In fact, quite the opposite. He becomes Perdant's conscience pushing the young policeman to face the morality of his choices as hunts down those helping save the Jewish refugees.

Perdant is pushed into action when the Gestapo conducts a raid on one of the boarding houses. Humiliated at being outdone by the Gestapo, Perdant is decides he must act despite his repulsion at the brutality of the raid. But he is deeply conflicted.  He goes to the river and throws stones into the water.
"Each stone a bad decision he had made.
The decision to join the national police.
His desire for pormotion that had led him here.
His fawning admiration for the leaders of Vichy and, worse, their German overlords."

Like most French, Perdant doesn't like the Germans but he wonders "Why did he want to do what he did?" Perdant had started out wanting to help France. "He didn't know what to believe anymore, except that he'd seen these kids on their sleds and bikes, singing as they hiked in the woods. They were hardly dangerous. They were just kids! All they wanted was to have a life." Yet Perdant is not yet ready to give up. He wants to make that big arrest.

So he seeks out Jules who he orders to take him to the abandoned Chateau de Roque. Jules knows the maquis are using this old building as a place of refugee so he tries his best to physically thwart Perdant. At the same time Jules attempts to get Perdant to see how his actions are morally wrong.  Perdant believes that "Someone has to keep law and order...." and questions Jules as to why the people of Les Lauzes do not follow the law, stating they cannot "choose the laws you like or don't like, willy-nilly." But Jules tells him that it is not a case of people not "liking" the laws, instead they believe the laws are wrong. "...Everybody knows what is wrong, but some people are too afraid to say or do anything. And some people manage to do a lot of twisty turns in their minds because they wish it to be right. But you can't make it right by wanting it to be right."

Perdant insists that people have to follow the law, but he knows that he is really trying to fill a quota demanded by Hitler in retribution for two German officers killed. Remembering his one successful arrest of two Jewish brothers brings no comfort to Perdant because it is not the capture of the brothers but the resistance of the young teenagers in an attempt to save the boys that fills his mind.

Eventually Jules, desperate to stop Perdant, confronts him with the policeman's gun, asking him what he thinks he is accomplishing by his spying, hunting and arresting of people. It is a question Perdant has asked and now has no answer. "Now he tried to rouse himself to answer with his usual patriotic fervor -- to save France for the Frenchmen, save the country from anti-patriots, communists, immigrants, the Jews who had been working to undermine the civilized nations of Europe....The problem was, he wasn't sure he believed it anymore."

It is only when Jules is seriously wounded that Perdant comes to his senses. He now sees all the resistance's activities with complete clarity,but even more importantly he sees his own actions compared to those of the teens in the resistance. He now must decide what to do with his life; he can continue to go down the path he is on or he can change direction.  Perdant acts to help them. He stalls the police and gendarmes as they arrive at the chateau. When they do raid the chateau, he has bought them the time to escape. It is the beginning of Perdant's redemption.

Village of Scoundrels is a beautifully crafted novel based on a true story of courage and resistance that occurred in France during World War II. It is a novel of courage and resistance in the face of great fear, and redemption. That Preus did extensive research prior to writing the novel is evident. She also visited the region of Le Chambon-sur-Lignon.

There is a wealth of supplementary material at the end of the novel including the detailed Epilogue with information on many key figures in the resistance, a Historical Timeline and a detailed Bibliography listing many resources for further research.

Well written and highly recommended.

Book Details:

Village of Scoundrels by Margi Preus
New York: Amulet Books        2019
302 pp.

Heart of a Samauri by Margi Preus

Heart of a Samurai is a fictionalized account of the true story of Manjiro Nakahama, whom the Japanese called "the boy who discovered America".

Manjiro's amazing story begins in 1841 with the sinking of the fishing boat he had joined. Manjiro along with four other sailors, Jusuke, Denzo, Toraemon, and Goemon, land on a deserted island which they name Bird Island, for its large albatross population. Manjiro was just fourteen years old and had left his mother and younger siblings to find work. At the time of the shipwreck, Japan was extremely xenophobic and isolationist. Any person who left Japan and later tried to return was put to death. For this reason, fisherman were warned not to stray too far from the coast for fear of "contamination" by the barbarians who lived outside of Japan. If they were lost at sea, they would be unable to return.

Once on the island, Manjiro and his companions waited for rescue by a ship, their situation becoming more dire with the passing of each day. Eventually after about six months, they were picked up by the whaling ship, the John Howland, captained by John Whitfield. Terrified of these strange bearded barbarians, Manjiro and his companions expected to be humiliated, poisoned and possibly eaten. Instead, the sailors fed and clothed them. Manjiro began to learn English so that he could learn what the sailors were doing sailing such a large ship on the ocean and to find out what they intended to do with him and his fellow Japanese. Not understanding Manjiro very well, the American sailors gave him the name, John Mung.

Manjiro found that Captain Whitfield was a kindly man who expected Manjiro to ask questions and learn. Captain Whitfield tells Manjiro that they had hoped to take them back to their homeland, but when they discovered they were from Japan, they knew this to be impossible since Japan will not accept any foreign ships in their ports. Manjiro comes to understand that the John Howland is a whaling vessel and when they finally make their first whale kill, he learns about whaling and why the Americans hunt whales.

After three and half years at sea, the John Howland returned to its home port of New Bedford in Massachusetts. Manjiro was one of the first Japanese to visit America and people did not know how to treat him. This made Manjiro's adjustment to living in America difficult at times. He decided to accept Captain Whitfield's offer to live with him and his new wife, and was able to attend school in America. However, Manjiro eventually decided that he needed to try to return home to Japan, both to see his mother whom he greatly missed, and also to work for change in Japan's isolationist ways.  Manjiro has many more adventures, including being part of California's gold rush before he does return to Japan with some of his remaining friends who were shipwrecked with him so many years before. Wishing to bring about change in Japan, it was his influence which finally made the Emperor open Japan to other countries.

Discussion

Heart of a Samurai is a great book for young teen boys who enjoy historical fiction. The  novel is a fictionalized account of Manjiro's adventures and includes many of Manjiro's drawings and some photographs as well. The novel takes its title from the fact that Manjiro wanted to be a samurai but because he was a lowly fisherman, he could never achieve this high station in Japanese society. However, he had the heart of a samurai for his bravery in living among the "barbarians" and he was eventually made a samurai when he returned to Japan.

This is a beautifully crafted novel in every way; the writing is superb and the illustrations enhance the reader's understanding of this unusual, interesting story. The hero is a likable, brave soul whom we can't help but root for! There is an Epilogue, a Historical Note, a Glossary and a Bibliography where readers can find books about Manjiro, whaling and also Japan.  Highly recommended.

Book Details:
Heart of a Samurai by Margi Preus
New York: Amulet Books        2012
301 pp.

Shadow on the Mountain by Margi Preus

Fourteen-year-old Espen is biking along a mountain road when a car full of German soldiers pulls up alongside him and asks him to stop. His identity card is checked and he tells the soldier that he is going to visit his uncle who is unwell and lives near Fossen. As he waits for the soldier to check his rucksack, Espen spies his friend Kjell in the car.

Last April, he and Kjell had raced up the hillside into the woods to watch the Germans, their motorcycles, trucks, tanks, cars, wagons and soldiers as they marched along. Kjell was mesmerized by the sheer numbers and strength of the Wehrmacht. However, Espen, using the metaphor of the Norwegian trolls, tells Kjell that once accepting the troll means submitting to its power. In June, when Espen and his sister, Ingrid returned to Lilley from their stay in the countryside, he found Kjell changed. Norway was also changed - now a country occupied by the Nazis.

Espen's rucksack is returned and he arrives at the fox farm. There he meets a woman who calls herself Tante Marie. He gives her the papers he's hidden in his long woolen stockings. The newspapers reveal that the Reichskommissar Terboven has removed Norway's king and government, dissolved parliament, and lists incidents involving Nazis attacking people who are resisting. Espen offers to help, so Tante Marie tells him the resistance is now very organized: Milorg is the military branch, Civorg is the civilian branch and XU is the intelligence.

While he's gorging himself on waffles, Tante Marie explains how dangerous the work will be. The newspapers he brought are illegal as is criticizing the Nazis. She also tells him that the Nazis have abolished the oath of silence of the clergy and can threaten imprisonment if they refuse to give the names of those who oppose the Occupation or Jews who have converted to Christianity. Still, Espen is determined to help and he is given the code name of Odin.

When Espen returns home, he finds Ingrid writing in her journal and warns her to be careful what she writes as the Nazis are searching homes. Ingrid is determined to discover what Espen has been up to since he won't reveal where he was.

While waiting for the ferry to take Espen and his soccer mates down the fjord to Tyssedal where they have a soccer match,  Kjell arrives. As they are ridiculing the German soldiers, Kjell encourages his teammates to consider joining the Germans. He tells them that the Germans are here to protect Norway from the British and the Bolsheviks. An argument quickly develops with Kjell accusing the king of Norway of running away and being a traitor. These leads to a boy named Stein giving Kjell a bloody nose. Kjell tells Espen he really believes the Germans are here to help but when Espen asks him what he was doing in the car with the Germans, Kjell claims he doesn't remember. As Kjell is Espen's best friend, this makes him wonder what is happening because he's certain it was Kjell who was in the German car.

At the soccer game, one of the players, Aksel takes over. He is furious when Espen allows a goal and sends him to get the ball out of the waters of the fjord. Angry at Aksel's abuse, Espen retrieves the ball which is covered in jellyfish and throws it to an unsuspecting Aksel, further angering him. When Espen returns home from a soccer victory, he finds the town policemen there to retrieve Espen's scout uniform and he is informed that all scouting is now banned.

In town, Espen tells Kjell that they won and are moving onto the championships. The two boys are watched by Aksel, who is determined to get revenge on all the boys from the soccer team, but especially on Espen. Revenge comes quickly in the form of the soccer team being made into a Nazi team, and Aksel being made captain by a Nazi Brown Shirt. Espen is furious and has no intention of playing on the Nazi soccer team. He follows Stein's example and walks off the field, along with his teammates.

As none of the other Norwegian teams join the Nazi association, the soccer players still plan to play the game in secret, just as the Boy Scouts continue to meet in secret. Leif warns Espen not to reveal anything to Kjell. Stein is determined that the five boys who include Per, Ole, Stein, Leif and Epsen work on "saving Norway from the Nazis". The begin constructing a hideaway which they name Oleanna.

In November 1940, Espen is given his first real assignment by Tante Marie: to retrieve a revolver left behind in a cabin in Hurlringen, an area filled with Germans. Hurlringen is a resort that has been completely taken over by the Germans including the ski lodge, farms and even family homes.  To do this, Espen must ski into the mountains which is not a problem as he is an experienced Nordic skier, used to long distances. Espen's mission is successful but he also has to fight the urge to stop and tell Kjell what he's done.

The story jumps ahead to the winter of  1942, with the German's fighting in Soviet Russia. More and more rules are put in place: books are banned, concerts are censored, dancing is illegal and teachers, like Mr. Henriksen are arrested. Meanwhile, his former best friend, Kjell is now attending the hird school, the Rikshird and he encourages Espen to join, so that he will be given a good assignment when they are forced to fight. At the train station, Espen's father tells him that eleven hundred teachers were arrested to set an example after many thousands of teachers refused to join the Nazi teachers union. Espen realizes that his father is helping the resistance in his own way and when he overhears a conversation in the station, Espen is given a difficult new assignment.

Meanwhile, Aksel believes that his old soccer group is involved somehow in illegal activity, possibly having formed a Milorg group and he's determined to crack it. He is now part of the Stapo, the Norwegian secret police and possibly soon to be part of the Gestapo. What he needed was to find someone whose family needed medicine.

Living in the fictional village of Lilleby with his parents and his younger sister, Ingrid, Espen is fourteen years old when the Nazis occupy Norway. Although the Germans at first are friendly, Espen watches as his way of life gradually disappears. Gone are scouting and his beloved soccer team. Hoping to undermine the Nazi occupation in any way, Espren joins the resistance as a courier. As he becomes a trusted member he is given more difficult tasks and drawn into the inner circle of the resistance.

Working against Espen are a few of his fellow Norwegians who have decided to side with the Nazi occupiers. Aksel a former soccer team member, who wasn't well liked, is determined to make a name for himself, no matter what the cost may be. There is Kjell, another soccer mate who struggles with cooperating with the Nazis so as to obtain medication for his grandmother. Preus uses these two characters in particular to explore the reasons why some people cooperated with an evil regime and what motivated them to do so.

As the Nazi occupation drags on, and Espren grows up both physically and emotionally, he learns not to hate his occupiers, but to "move toward the light", to shun the emotions of hatred, anger and bitterness that encompass the Nazi ideology. Espren is helped in his work by Ingrid and also a neighbour, Solveig, whom he has a crush on. When Espren's group is compromised and with the Nazi net tightening, Espren must make a choice; stay in Lilleby and risk the lives of others in the resistance or make the dangerous journey to freedom in Sweden. Preus does a wonderful job of building the novel to its exciting, climatic ending.

Discussion

In Shadow on the Mountain, the experiences of Espen are based on those of real life Erling Storrusten, who was a teenager in Lillehammer, Norway during the Nazi occupation. 

On April 9, 1940, Nazi Germany invaded an unprepared Norway, a peaceful country whose people looked like the blond haired, blue-eyed Aryan's Hitler thought should rule the world. The people of Norway tried to fight the invasion of their beloved country but were ill-prepared, with a small armed forces, to organize much of a military resistance. A puppet regime was installed, headed by Vidkun Quisling, head of the Norwegian Nazi party after King Haakon and his government fled to England. Since they were unable to overthrow their Nazi occupiers, the Norwegian people began to resist in other ways.

Shadow on the Mountain is well written historical fiction that will appeal to younger teens who enjoy war fiction with a touch of excitement and romance, and at times a dash of humour. The story is told from the perspective of four characters, Espen, Ingrid, Aksel and Kjell.

Author Margi Preus opens the novel with a prologue to help orient and familiarize her young readers with the situation in Norway during the Second World War. The prologue explains how neutral Norway was overrun by a large German military contingent. A map of the fictional town of Lilleby orients readers to the setting of the novel. The Author's Note at the back sets out more information about Erling Storrusten, and about what is fiction and what is fact in the novel. Also included is a photo album at the back of the novel that includes pictures of Erling, a timeline, a detailed bibliography and suggestions for further reading.

Espen is a courageous, principled character. Having courage doesn't mean being fearless but doing the right thing in spite of feeling fear. Espen experiences this when he follows Stein off the soccer field. Later on, Leif tells him he would never have acted if Espen hadn't followed Stein because he is afraid of the storm troopers, something Espen also feels.   

Espen is determined to save his friend Kjell who he sees transforming before his eyes. As he is drawn deeper into the Nazi fold, Kjell begins to believe the lies about the Jews. He tells Espen, "All great cultures were created by the Germanic race, and of all the people in the world, we - the Nordic people -are the ones with the purest Germanic blood. Against us stand the Jews, who want to destroy us. If we don't win this war, Espen, it will be the end of the Germanic race, and the end of Norway as we know it."

The short chapters and sectioning the story into years using separate black pages containing interesting and relevant quotes helps engage the reader. Shadow on the Mountain is highly recommended, both for its quality of writing, and for telling the story of a lesser known aspect of one country's resistance to the Nazi war machine.

Book Details:
Shadow on the Mountain by Margi Preus
New York: Amulet Books 2012
286 pp.