Safiyyah's War by Hiba Noor Khan

Eleven-year-old Safiyyah wants to travel and explore the world. She loved spending afternoons in the library where Madame Odette would bring out the right maps for Safiyyah to explore the places she was interested in. Places like Jerusalem, Manila, Harare or Manaus in Brazil. Often this led Safiyyah to lose track of the time and arrive home later than she should have. This would lead her mother, Yemma to worry, ever since autumn last year when the war began.

When she arrives at the mosque, Safiyyah sits down beside her grandma, Setti in the mosque courtyard. Setti advises her to use each breath she is given wisely and the knowledge she gains too from her reading of maps. Safiyyah's grandmother had moved to Spain from Algeria when she was a teenager. Safiyyah's great-grandparents had farmed large fruit orchards in Algeria. When they moved to Andalusia in Spain, they brought with them orange, lemon and cherry trees. Setti loved oranges and they brought back found memories. From the taste of an orange she could tell where it was grown.

Soon Safiyyah's mother arrives and takes her back to their apartment in the mosque complex to help prepare dinner. They are expecting her father's friend Ammo Kader for dinner. At dinner Baba tells them that the Germans have crossed the French border at the Ardennes. While they don't know what this will mean for them as Muslims, they do know it will not be good for their Jewish friends.

Baba works at the mosque, while Ammo Kader is the rector, liaising with politicians. Ammo Imam is also involved, helping to run the mosque smoothly. Safiyyah often attends their Saturday morning meetings. Baba hopes one day Safiyyah will attend college and he sees her involvement in the mosque affairs as preparation for this. At the meeting the discussion turns to the war and what might happen. Baba had fought for France in the First World War and had lost his hearing in his left ear. But the brutality had also affected him too. 

On Saturday afternoon, Safiyyah travels to the sixteenth arrondissement with Baba to see her best friend Isabelle. Because Isabelle's father works in the French government, her parents know important ministers and ambassadors. Normally Isabelle's mother was dressed with makeup and her hair in a chignon, but on this day she is still in her dressing gown, talking on the telephone in a panicky voice. Isabelle's nanny, Nounou took the girls to the park. There Isabelle reveals that her family is leaving Paris, going south to their chateau in Provence. Isabelle has no idea how long they will stay at the chateau and she also tells Safiyyah that they may flee to England if things worsen. Although Isabelle and her family are not Jewish they are frightened. Safiyyah is devastated by this news.

After Isabelle leaves Paris, Yemma and Baba take Safiyyah and her younger sister, Fatima to Baba's sister's house to visit their cousins. Sixteen-year-old Tarek, who has just finished high school and who wants to be an engineer, announces that he is enlisting. This shocks everyone. When they return to Paris Safiyyah goes to the library to ask for Madame Odette's help locating a book for Monsieur Cassin. He is an elderly friend of Baba and Ammo Kader who Safiyyah delivers medication to once a month. Monsieur Cassin is a botanist, researching plants in India, Sri Lanka, and Malaysia and has just finished writing a book. But he needs a specific book to finish his appendix on insect species. Madame Odette promises to help locate this book. Safiyyah also learns that the librarians are packing books to send to soldiers in the war. However, other books such as special volumes and rare collections are being packed to be sent into the countryside, hidden from the Nazis.

By June 1940, the situation rapidly changes. Safiyyah is no longer welcome in Baba's office for his weekly meetings. While Safiyyah is on her way to bring a book to Monsieur Cassin, Paris is bombed by the Germans. Safiyyah is caught in the bombing but survives and is help by the elderly scientist. Safiyyah, her parents and the mosque work to help the people of Paris and the refugees flooding the city, giving out food and water.

Eventually Safiyyah learns that her friend Isabelle is safe with her parents in England, at her grandfather's cousin's home in Dover. While she misses her best friend she makes a new friend in a young refugee, Timothee who is in Paris with his father. Her family help Timothee and he soon becomes an important helper in what soon happens.

With the arrival of the Germans and the implementation of a curfew, life changes even more. Safiyyah leaves school for several weeks. Then Monsieur Cassin is attacked, his completed book manuscript stolen and his apartment wrecked by the Nazis. Incredibly Safiyyah is able to rescue most of his manuscript from the Nazi soldiers and she and Baba return to help him. However, Baba is far from pleased with Safiyyah who he considers to have placed herself in terrible danger stealing Cassin's manuscript from the Nazi soldiers. However, she confronts him about what she has noticed: that he is exhausted and troubled, out late at night and that the librarians, Madame Odette and Claude have been at the mosque.  Eventually Safiyyah learns the reason behind all of the strange things she's seen and soon finds herself drawn into helping those most in danger, the Jews of Paris.

Discussion

Safiyyah's War is a historical fiction novel that is centered around the help provided to French Jews by the Grand Mosque of Paris during the Nazi occupation of France. 

The Grand Mosque of Paris was built between 1922 and 1926 to honour the sacrifice by mainly Algerian Muslim sharpshooters during World War 1. Like the character, Setti whose grandparents left Algeria for France, many Algerians immigrated to France after World War I. These Muslims were Kabyles and they eventually would join the French Resistance in 1940.

During the Second World War, Si Kaddour Benghabrit, the founder and rector of the Grand Mosque of Paris provided refuge and Muslim identity cards to Jews. At this time, France had a large population of Sephardic Jews. They looked similar to the French Algerian Muslims,  spoke Arabic and had similar traditions, including not eating port and male circumcision. While the mosque was a place of prayer it was also a place where people could find a calming quiet, take food and rest. 

It wasn't long after occupying Paris and the northern part of France that the Nazis and their Vichy collaborators began rounding up Jews. There is some confusion as to who was involved, if it was Benghabrit or individual Muslims and the extent of the help offered by the Grand Mosque. According to Benghabrit, he offered sanctuary to French and Algerian Jews in the mosque's apartments occupied by Muslim families, and he also created false identity papers. The sewers of Paris were used as escape routes to the Halles au Vins on the Seine River where they were hidden aboard empty wine barrels on ferries and barges. They were then taken out of Paris to Spain or the Maghreb (northwest Africa). The exact number of Jews aided cannot be confirmed with estimates of dozens to just over one thousand. There is also some evidence via personal testimony of Ashkenazi Jews being saved as well.

It is this history that forms the back story of Safiyyah's War. In the novel, Benghabrit is referred to as Ammo Kadr. According to Noor Khan, the name of the imam who was "the soul of the mosque's Resistance activities" is lost to history and is simply referred to in the story as Ammo Imam. Noor Khan has incorporated many details of the mosque's resistance activities into the story including the underground tunnels, the use of the wine barrels and the bell system to warn Jews of a Nazi raid.  Also many historical figures are represented such as master forger, Adolfo Kaminsky who is "the kind man", Noor Inayat Khan an Indian aristocrat who became a British spy who is represented by the character Madeleine and Madame Odette and Claude who represented the librarians who provided books for the Jews in hiding as well as the saving of rare books and those books the Nazis deemed worth burning. As well many details of life in Paris especially during the bombing of the city and the influx of refugees from northern France.

The novel places Safiyyah's family at the heart of the mosque's resistance with her father learning how to forge identity cards, hiding Jews within the mosque and taking them through the treacherous tunnels to the Seine. It doesn't take the main protagonist, Safiyyah long to uncover her father's clandestine activities and end up in the thick of things. She is a well crafted character, intelligent, compassionate, and full of courage. As Noor Khan writes in her Historical Note, "All those living in the mosque would have been involved in the Resistance activities in some way, no matter how small their efforts may have seemed. Safiyyah represents all the unlikely heroes whose names aren't memorialized and whose stories aren't sung and praised, but whose courage and actions change our world forever."

In a scene earlier in the novel, Safiyyah's grandmother, Setti advises her to choose the "path of light". Safiyyah loves to explore the world through maps. Knowing this, Setti tells her that often maps have led people to do terrible things, wars, oppression and colonization. She advises using the map of the heart to choose the path of light.

Safiyyah's War is a much needed novel about a forgotten piece of history.  The author states in her Historical Note that she wrote it "...to be a humanizing, unifying force in an all-too-often bitterly divided world." Besides being a well-written and engaging story, it is for this reason that Safiyyah's War is highly recommended, especially for classroom selections.

Book Details:

Safiyyah's War by Hiba Noor Khan
New York:  Allida     2023
329 pp.

Agent Most Wanted: the Never-Before-Told Story of the Most Dangerous Spy of World War II by Sonia Purnell

Virginia Hall was born in 1906 to Barbara and Edwin Lee (Ned) Hall, a Baltimore banker who also owned a movie theater. Virginia, known as "Dindy" to her family, was a free spirit who went against the conventions of the 1920s, wearing pants in place of skirts. She loved hunting and riding horses bareback. Virginia was viewed as a natural leader by her classmates.

While her mother wanted Virginia to marry into Baltimore society, her father allowed her the freedom she craved. Despite this, Virginia did become engaged at the age of nineteen but she eventually broke off the engagement and enrolled at Radcliffe College in 1924. Finding this school boring, she switched to Barnard College in Manhattan. 

Virginia was determined to have a career as a diplomat so she convinced her parents to send her oversees to the Ecole Libre des Sciences Politiques. Paris was exciting for Virginia with its actresses, intellectuals and politicians. 

It was while studying languages, economics and journalism in Vienna, that Virginia met and fell in love with Emil, a young Polish army officer. Because her family objected to this relationship, Virginia broke up with him.

Living in Europe resulted in Virginia learning a number of foreign languages, and becoming informed on European culture and politics. She developed a deep love for France, her "second country" and became concerned over the rise of fascism in Europe. In 1929, she returned to the United States, to study French and economics at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. She attempted to become a diplomat but her application was rejected. 

After the death of her father in 1931, Virginia obtained a position at the US embassy in Poland, processing mail, diplomatic visas, and coding and decoding telegrams. In 1933, Virginia transferred to Smyrna, Turkey and it was there that she suffered a life-changing injury, shooting herself accidently in her left foot. When gangrene set in, surgeons were forced to amputate her left leg below the knee to save her life. Virginia returned home in June, 1934, endured several more operations, and was given a new wooden prosthetic leg she named "Cuthbert". This period of her life at her family's home, Box Horn Farm was difficult as Virginia had to relearn how to walk. 

She was able to obtain a new post at the US consulate in Venice, Italy, where she continued to impress her superiors with her abilities. At age thirty, Virginia's second attempt to obtain a diplomat position was rejected on the grounds of her being an amputee. Virginia's supporters lobbied President Roosevelt who was told by Secretary of State Cordell Hull that her disability made her unsuitable for a diplomatic position.  Instead, she was orders to leave Venice and given a posting in Tallinn, Estonia where she arrived after getting the needed repairs to her prosthetic leg in Paris. She arrived in Tallin in June 1938 and spent time hunting pheasant and grouse in the forests of Estonia.

In March, 1939,with war on the horizon, she resigned and left for London in September. When Germany attacked Poland on September 1, 1939, Virginia left for London. After being rejected as a volunteer for the Auxiliary Territorial Service because she was a foreigner, Virginia went to Paris and signed up as an ambulance driver for the French Ninth Artillery Regiment in March, 1940. When France was invaded by the Nazis in May 1940, Virginia was determined to help. She helped transport wounded French soldiers to Paris. As an American, Virginia was given more freedom than the French. On June 22, 1940, France surrendered with Philippe Petain, the new French leader signing a treaty that saw the north and west of France occupied by the Germans. The south was free and was governed by Petain from the town of Vichy and became known as Vichy France. Virginia believed the French would eventually fight back to reclaim their country and she wanted to help them. To do that, she knew she needed to get back to London.

In August 1940, in a border town in Spain, Virginia encountered George Bellows, a British secret agent. She told him about her experiences in France and impressed him with her courage and "...her desire to help the French." He gave her the phone number of a contact in London, that of Nicolas Bodington. He was "...a senior officer in the French (F) Section of a brand-new British intelligence service, the Special Operations Executive (SOE)." 

However, Virginia did not contact Bodington, but instead asked for a temporary job at the U.S. embassy in London, while she waited to travel back to the United States. She was given a job as secretary to the embassy's military expert. Virginia soon found herself trapped in London during the nightly bombings by the Germans. It was at this time during the Blitz that she contacted Nicolas Bodington and was invited to dinner.

She met Nicolas and his wife Elizabeth, an American, in January 1941. Nicolas was frustrated by the fact that the British were unsuccessful in placing a single agent into France. Virginia didn't know who Nicolas was nor of his frustration. After the dinner, Nicolas was determined to use Virginia for a mission. America was not yet involved in the war, so Virginia could openly enter France, working as an American journalist.

There were obstacles to Virginia working in the British military: she was an American citizen, women were forbidden from frontline military service as they were not protected by international laws if taken prisoner during a war, and in the SOE there was strong opposition to women serving in the military. Eventually Virginia was taken on by the SOE on April 1, 1941, becoming Agent 3844 and the first liaison officer (Class A). She was not granted a military rank, likely because she would fail the medical exam based on her prosthetic. 

She was sent into Vichy France, her mission described as "Liaison and Intelligence in Vichy France." The SOE wanted to know the state of affairs in France: "could the French people be organized into effective paramilitary networks to resist fascism ..."  After training in coding, guerilla warfare, spreading propaganda, using code names, making invisible inks, and picking locks, Virginia was sent to Vichy. It was September 3, 1941 when she arrived at Petain's headquarters as a correspondent for the New York Post. Virginia's articles about life in Vichy France provided a wealth of information for the SOE who wanted to send more agents. This information allowed new agents to blend into everyday life. While Virginia was tasked with reporting on the situation in France and helping other agents as they arrived, she would accomplish so much more than that - setting up safe houses, recruiting sympathetic helpers, organizing resistance groups, and even rescuing prisoners. 

Discussion

Agent Most Wanted is the story of Virginia Hall, a woman who overcame the barriers of gender and disability to become the first Allied woman secret agent in France, significantly helping the French Resistance during World War II. Author Sonia Purnell undertook extensive research, interviewing Virginia Hall's niece, Lorna Catling and traveling to France, to speak with the people of Le Chambon-sur-Lignon and many others including the son of  Georges Duboudin who was known as agent "Alain".

Virginia Hall was a most extraordinary woman, a heroine of the war and one of the most effective Allied agents. Purnell explores Virginia's early life, her personality and the factors that formed her into the courageous leader she became.  Nicknamed "Dindy" by her family, Virginia strongly resisted what was considered an "acceptable" life for a young woman in the 1930's. She broke an engagement, got herself well educated and was determined to have a career as a diplomat. Her father allowing her the freedom to be herself led to Virginia forging her own path. Eventually, as an Allied secret agent, she would make significant contributions during the war.

She recruited people to support the resistance to the Nazis in France, recruiting people to help fight the Nazis and defend their country. She recruited people who provided safe houses for agents hiding from the Nazis, obtaining weapons, medicine and supplies for the French Resistance. She also educated incoming British agents helping them to blend into the French culture so they wouldn't be caught by the Gestapo. 

Virginia infiltrated the Surete, the Vichy government's counter-espionage force and she orchestrated prison escapes of SOE agents, most notably the spectacular escape of twelve SOE agents called Clan Cameron from the Mauzac prison camp. 

Despite her remarkable abilities and her outstanding record, Virginia struggled at first to be taken seriously by the SOE in London. Many times male agents were taken at their word, over her more experienced opinions. The SOE refused to put Virginia in charge, even though she was the most competent agent in France. Without military rank, her competence could be questioned and her advice ignored. Purnell relates all of this plus explores the personal cost to Virginia, both the physical suffering she had to endure at times to get to safety and the loneliness she experienced. She also suffered from the betrayal of her network in Lyon by Robert Alesch, a Roman Catholic priest and Nazi collaborator and agent for the Abwehr. It was she who had taken Alesch into her confidence, mistakenly trusting him, something that cost her deep regret in the post-war years.

Virginia Hall proved that women could be excellent agents and she paved the way for many other female agents, many of whom lost their lives. Virginia was determined to prove "...that her survival against the odds had been for a purpose." Years earlier in March of 1939, her bland career made her want more. She wondered "How could she break through the constrictions of her life to do something really worthwhile?" There's no doubt that Virginia Hall was able to do something really worthwhile: she played a significant part in helping the French resist the Nazi occupation and she contributed to the Allies victory in Europe.

Purnell tells Virginia's story in short chapters, with black and white photographs of many significant people involved in Virginia's work in France and important people in her life in the post-war period. The author also provides Notes giving sources for the information in each chapter, a Bibliography and an Index. 

Agent Most Wanted is an engaging story about one of the most significant but probably under-acknowledged heroes of the Second World War. It is well-written, well-researched and highly recommended!

Book Details:

Agent Most Wanted: The Never Before Told Story of the Most Dangerous Spy of World War II by Sonia Purnell
New York: Viking    2022
200 pp.

Rescue by Jennifer A. Nielsen

Margaret (Meg) Kenyon's father left home in May of 1940 to fight the German army massing on the French border. Meg and her parents were forced to leave their home in Auxonne, near the German border and flee to their grandmere's farm in an area known as the Perche. 

Unfortunately, France surrendered six weeks after the invasion. The Perche is in the Occupied Zone, controlled by the Germans. This area includes French cities like Paris, Nantes and Bordeaux, as well as some of the best farmland in France. To the south is Free France, also called Vichy France. Meg's family home is near Auxonne, only fifty kilometers from the Forbidden Zone, an area the Germans intend to settle with German citizens.

Almost two years later, in Feb of 1942, Meg has not heard from her father in 657 days and she wonders if he's still alive. Today she has a job to do: to help the French resistance by supplying them with any information that can help.

Meg often goes to town to sell food on the black market and today she places some potatoes in her bag and covers them with a few school books. Before she leaves for town, Meg's mother tells her that she also has a few errands to run but she doesn't elaborate.

In town Meg goes to her usual abandoned building, once a flower shop to wait for her regular customers. After selling potatoes to a woman, a boy she doesn't know, an "inconnu" arrives and asks for food. He tells her his name is Jakob and that German soldiers have just arrived in town. 

As she's leaving, Meg sees the soldiers and knows they are in town to search for members of the resistance, the partisans. One of the Germans, Lieutenant Becker is a cruel and dangerous German. In a cafe, Meg sits, pretending she is studying, while listening to Becker. She learns he is searching for a "her" and a "him". Meg doesn't know who these people might be, so she decides to follow Becker when he leaves the cafe. But he quickly realizes she is following him and stops her to question and check her bag. Eventually he lets her continue her journey home.

Trained by a young partisan named Yvonne, Meg leaves a message in code behind a loose brick in a wall on the edge of the forest, warning them that the Nazis are conducting searches in the Perche. Returning to Grandmere's farm, Meg immediately notices the barn door ajar and blood on the snow. Meg discovers Captain Henry Stewart of the Royal Air Force has taken refuge in the barn. He's injured and asks Meg for help. She agrees despite her suspicions and brings him stew and rags for bandages.

While she and Grandmere wait for Meg's mother to return, Meg works on deciphering the last code in the jar of codes her papa left for her before the war. It is Meg's dream to work as a cryptologist in London, helping with the war effort. The last code, JAIMIE STAYED is difficult to solve.

Captain Stewart finds Meg's code journal hidden in the barn and questions her, warning her to burn it as it will incriminate her if the Germans find it. Stewart reveals that he did parachute out of a plane to meet up with Sylvie Kenyon a radio operator with the S.O.E.. As it turns out, Sylvie is Meg's mother. 

When Meg is called back into the house she finds Jakob, the boy she gave potatoes to earlier and her mother. Jakob tells her that the Nazis are conducting searches of all the homes, looking for a British spy. At this point, Captain Stewart enters revealing Meg's secret. In perfect French, he tells Jakob he was supposed to meet them but was injured. Sylvie tells Stewart that when she transmitted a message, the Nazis were able to locate her and she had to flee, never sending the message that he was injured. She tells Stewart that her radio was damaged. 

The next phase of Captain Stewart's mission was to involve himself and Jakob but it is obvious he is too injured to complete it. Meg and her family must hide all evidence of Captain Stewart's presence and hide him. Stewart is hidden beneath the floorboards of Grandmere's bed, while Meg and her mother try to clean up all evidence of their work for the partisans. At the last minute Meg throws her small journal into the fire.

Just before the arrival of the German's Meg's mother reveals the extent of her work for the resistance. She tells Meg that she "connects the partisans in the forest with the spy offices back in London." Her information helps them plan their secret missions. Meg's mother gives her a yellowed paper that Captain Stewart passed along to her. It appears to be written in code by Meg's father.

With the arrival of Lieutenant Becker, Meg pretends to be asleep in bed while Becker and his soldiers search their house. But when Becker finds Meg's half burned journal in the fireplace, he decides he will stay the night and question her in the morning. Luckily for Meg, that doesn't happen as Becker needs to leave. But his plans to return, result in Meg, her mother and Captain Stewart forming their own plans for Meg to leave.

Captain Stewart, who is with the Special Operations Executive (S.O.E.), is too injured to complete his mission, that of escorting a family, the Durands into Spain. Albert Durand helped Meg's father get to a safe house from a German prison camp. Albert however, will not reveal Meg's father's location until he is safely in neutral territory. However to help his family, Meg's father gave Albert a letter which he passed onto Captain Stewart. Meg now has the letter but she will need to decipher it to learn the message her father has sent her. It is  up to Meg to lead the Durands to safety while also attempting to decode the message her father sent.

Discussion

Rescue by Jennifer A. Nielsen is the latest novel in her series of World War II historical fiction. Set in occupied France during 1942, the story revolves around a young French girl with a knack for deciphering code, helping two German citizens flee the Nazis. Nielsen incorporates the use of codes by the partisans into her story, offering her readers the puzzle of a lengthy code Meg's father has left for her to decipher.

Meg is a determined, resourceful heroine who loves her country and wants to help defeat the Nazis. She doesn't want to cooperate in any way with the Nazis. In Paris, Meg struggles to understand the treatment of the French Jews. "A large sign pasted to a brick wall depicted a monstrous drawing of the Jewish people. A young couple passed it, their heads bowed down....My eyes crossed between them and the horrible drawing. That couple was no different than any of us, and I wondered how the other people here on the street couldn't see that. Maybe if we just looked at one another, if we stopped hating and pointing fingers of blame, maybe then we could stand together against the true enemies of France."

However, Meg finds herself challenged to see people as they are by Jakob. When she tells Jakob that she doesn't feel sorry for the Durands because they are German, Jakob confronts her belief that  "...everyone is the same, just because they come from the same place." Meg wants to see Jakob as a friend at this point, but she cannot. However, later on in their journey, Meg comes to realize that events are more complicated and that one cannot judge who is good or bad based on where they come from.  She learns that Jakob's parents were taken for hiding Jews, that Albert helped her father escape and that Liesel was forced into betraying them on their escape into Switzerland.

While Rescue is an exciting read, there are some weak areas in the plot. For example, Lieutenant Becker suspects, with good reason, that Meg and her mother are involved with the partisans. He has retrieved Meg's half burned journal from the fireplace and it is obvious it is a code book. He want to question Meg but remarkably, waits until morning after being told Meg needs her sleep. The Germans were never this accommodating. Meg is spared his questioning when Becker is suddenly called away the next morning. Becker leaves the farm without stationing a soldier behind to ensure that Meg and her mother do not flee. Not leaving a guard behind would have been very unlikely given the high flight risk that Meg and her mother would pose.

The story line is also becomes somewhat confusing when Meg leaves the "Durands" at Pole, after learning of the disappearance of her mother and grandmother. She travels back to her family home near Auxonne but this is never clearly stated. While Nielsen has provided her young readers with a map at the front of the novel, it would have been helpful to have Meg's journeys marked on this map.

Nielsen incorporates plenty of plot twists in the story: no one is who they seem to be, including Meg's mother and Jakob. The Durands are not a family but instead are two Germans who worked for the Nazis and who have changed sides. 

Overall, Rescue is a solid story that will capture the interest of middle grade readers and young teens. It has a suspenseful but happy ending. The back of the novel includes pages on Secret Codes and also on the Special Operations Executive.

Book Details:

Rescue by Jennifer A. Nielsen
New York: Scholastic Press Inc.    2021
387 pp.

Under A War Torn Sky by L.M. Elliot

Henry Forester, just nineteen years old is a co-pilot of a Eighth Air Force bomber crew stationed in Britain. Today's mission will be Henry's fifteenth but he's nervous. Because the average number of missions pilots survive is fifteen. In order to complete a tour of duty, every airman must fly twenty-five missions.

Henry's pilot is Dan MacNamara, a twenty-five year old married father from Chicago. Today's mission will be his twenty-first and he needs only four more missions to complete his tour.

At the morning briefing at Group Ops, Henry and Dan along with Billy White another co-pilot and the other fliers learn that they will have a long flight across the English Channel to the Belgian coast, down to France, along the northern edge of Switzerland, to southern Germany where their target is a ball bearing factory. Ball bearings are essential to the German war machine.

Dan and Henry go through their preflight checklist for the B-24 Liberator named Out of the Blue, carrying five hundred pound bombs and almost three thousand gallons of fuel. Their plane forms part of a six plane squadron that is part of a four squadron diamond formation. They meet up with other bomb groups over Great Yarmouth on the coast and then continue to fly towards Europe.  As they approach the continent, they encounter flak from the anti-aircraft batteries that line the European coast and then the planes of the Luftwaffe, Focke-Wulf 190s.

Billy White's plane, Battling Queen is shot out of they sky and soon Dan and Henry find themselves under attack. They are forced to bail after their number three engine is destroyed. Henry saves Dan's life by pulling him out of the plane, only to watch in horror as Dan is killed by a Messerschmitt pilot who strafs him as he parachutes to the ground. Henry quickly finds himself under attack and although his parachute is ripped, he manages to survive the hard landing with an injured ankle.

Henry limps through snow and forest towards Neuf-Brisach when he encounters an older man riding a bicycle. His confusion leads to a comical attempt to speak French but this moves the man to decide to help him. He informs Henry that he is in the Alsace region, a French province which was annexed by Germany four years earlier. The man, a teacher before the war took all his pupils, takes Henry to the abandoned schoolhouse to hide him. He believes Henry's foot is broken and that he will need the care of a doctor in a hospital. Eventually arrangements are made to transport Henry to a hospital. With the help of another man, Henry is hidden in a long flat-bottomed boat, "heavily loaded with red and white cabbages." The plan is to travel down the Grand Canal d'Alsace to Basel, a city on the border with Switzerland. In Basel, the teacher has a cousin who has promised to help.

However, when they reach Basel, the boat is searched by Swiss soldiers who narrowly miss bayoneting Henry, hidden in a crawl space beneath the crates of cabbages. Unfortunately the teacher's cousin refuses to help them, so Henry, fortified with a swig of brandy and delirious from the pain and infection, is left by a church where he is discoverd by Red Cross nurses and taken to a hospital.

Henry wakes in hospital to find that his ankle has been drained of the infection and the bone set. After surgery, Special Assistant to the U.S. Ambassador, Samuel Watson meets with Henry to tell him that the neutrality of Switzerland's government cannot be ensured. Because Henry just showed up at the door of the hospital, he is not yet classified as a prisoner of war. This means he can wear civilian clothes during his transport to Adelboden, an internment camp for Americans and therefore may have a chance of slipping away. He can then attempt to cross through Switzerland and into France, making his way across the Pyrenees into Spain and then to Portugal where he can take a boat back to England. Henry agrees to this and so begins a remarkable and dangerous journey that will change Henry forever.

Discussion

Under A War Torn Sky is a thrilling, action-packed novel about an American pilot who is shot down over France in World War II and attempts to make his way through war-torn Europe and back to Britain. This novel by Laura Malone Elliot is an exemplary work of historical fiction that accurately presents the circumstances the French Resistance operated under and portrays what many Allied pilots endured after being shot down by the Nazis. Elliot based her novel on the experiences of her father, also a B-24 pilot who was shot down and survived behind German lines in France for several months.

The hero of the novel is Second Lieutenant Henry Wiley Forester, a mere 19 years old at the time he is shot out of the sky by a Messerschmitt. Henry agrees to a plan to make his way through war-torn Europe in an attempt to return to Britain to continue fighting. He agrees to try to escape for two reasons; to impress his harsh father Clayton who has a low opinion of Henry and also because he doesn't want to be considered a coward.  In this way Elliot sets up her main character as the archetypal hero who undertakes a journey that is both dangerous and life-changing.

Henry's physical journey is harsh enough, walking on a barely healed ankle, not knowing where his journey will take him next, enduring hunger and cold, shunted from one place to the next, at risk constantly of being captured and interrogated by the Germans. Along the way he is helped by the most unlikely of people, all doing their part to resist the Nazis. Henry travels from Alscae to Thun, Switzerland, to Montreux, onto Geneva to Annecy and then to Grenoble. He spends time with a family near Vassieux-en-Vercours where he befriends a young boy named Pierre. Henry is taken to a maquis camp in Col de la Bataille (the maquis were French resistance fighters living in the forests and mountains of France during WW II). Eventually Henry falls into the hands of the Nazis when he and a group of pilots are betrayed by a Basque member of the French resistance as they travel through the Pyrenees. Henry finds himself taken to Toulouse where he is tortured for information. While on his way to Lyon for further interrogation, he manages to escape. After spending some time with another maquis group, Henry is eventually recaptured by the retreating German army and but is set free by an elderly German soldier. He is able to make his way to the American troops and after a period of time returns to his beloved home in Virginia.

Throughout Henry's journey he also experiences an internal journey of self-discovery. When he is first downed in France, Henry often recalls the harsh words and actions of his father Clayton who was determined to make Henry into a tough man. Henry joined the Air Corps to prove himself to his father, "to seem worthy of his respect even if he couldn't win his father's love." But his father indicates to Henry that he considers his enlisting a waste. When he is shot down, Henry is determined to survive if only to prove to Clayton that he's strong enough to do so. Henry doesn't understand why his father has been so harsh and unforgiving.

Nevertheless it is often the words of Clayton that Henry has heard throughout his childhood which ultimately change Henry into a man of action. For example, when he's overcome by fear as he approaches the checkpoint in Grenoble, Henry remembers his father's words, "Don't be a coward boy. Only cowards hesitate."  and he races through the checkpoint as he's ordered to do.  Later on when he is attacked by a member of the Resistance to determine if he is English or German, Henry staggers to his feet, prepared to fight, urged on by the voice of his father who often beat him. "Get up, boy, or they'll kick you while you're down." And when he is being taken to Lyon to be tortured further in the hopes that he will betray Madame Gaullioux, it is Clayton's voice that urges him to act to save himself. "Grab the gun, boy!" and "Shoot him boy, shoot him."

By the end of his journey, Henry has now become a man of action. While helping the maquis, Henry saves the lives of several maquisards in a desperate moment. "Henry no longer needed his father's voice to prod him in life-and-death circumstances. He picked up the grenade. It was heavy, cold, scaly. It felt like a thing of death. Henry pulled the pin, stood up, and hurled it."

Through his experiences in war, Henry comes to understand why Clayton has been so harsh. Although his father's strength of will brought Henry's family through the Depression, Henry can see how it might be hard "to shed a tough attitude or a wary distrust of people once the bad times were over." However, Henry is determined that these terrible experiences will not harden him.  He comes to understand that Clayton's harshness towards him was a sign of his love for his son. "What am I going to do with you, boy? Love's got responsibilities. Things you gotta do even if you don't want to.That's the kind of love a real man is capable of."

Henry experiences intense internal conflict because he's been forced to do things that he considers wrong, such as stealing food and clothing and even murder. After murdering his German interrogator and his driver, Henry is filled with horror. Dropping bombs from a plane meant he never saw the people he killed. This is very different. "Henry reached into the stream to wash himself clean of blood. It was everywhere -- his hands, his hair, his clothes, his soul. How would he ever be clean of all that blood? He had killed two men -- not from the anonymity of the sky -- but face to face, with his own hands. Besides that, he'd wanted to kill them, was glad that he killed them so taht he could live. He'd had murder in his heart. He couldn't wash that out. Henry knew that he was changed forever, and not for the better." Henry can reconcile his killing the German soldier but not the chauffeur.

However, Henry uses this experience to save Claudette from a similar situation. Filled with grief, rage and hate over what has happened to her family and her country at the hands of the Nazis, Claudette is determined to murder a young sixteen year old collaborator. Henry intervenes, asking her to consider what she's doing. "Think of Andrea, Claudette. Don't dishonor him with this. He died for France's freedom, not for this. And if you kill her, you're as bad as the Nazis. The one thing I've learned from all this hate and death is that when the war is over, it has to be over. If it's not, we'll just have another bloodbath in a few years. Don't do this Claudette. You're better than the Nazis. I know you are."

Henry's ideas about war also undergo a transformation. When Henry embarks on his journey he has no idea what the war is like on the ground. He never sees the effects of the bombs on the civilian population. But he soon discovers that even bombing a munition plant can have unexpected victims such as little Pierre's father. Henry questions "the strategy of dropping bombs on a country they were trying to liberate" after he tells Pierre that he his a bomber pilot and Pierre is troubled. Henry wonders if his father has been killed by those bombs dropped on the munitions plants the French are forced to work in.

Henry also entered the war with a certain opinion of his role in it. "Henry and his pilot friends had always seen themselves as the saviors of France. He was ashamed of their arrogance." But his experiences with the Resistance make him realize that the people who are part of the French Resistance are the ones who are risking everything.

Under A War Torn Sky accurately portrays the face of the French Resistance from the wealthy widow, to the old school teacher and the teenage guide whose family had sent him to live with strangers and who loves Louis Armstrong. Elliot brilliantly captures the heroics of the French resistance as they fight the Nazis against great odds and often paying a terrible price for their actions. Madame "Gaulloise" a wealthy widow whose son was captured at the Aisne River when Hitler invaded, hides not only Henry but Jews in her rooms. She is eventually captured and taken to Lyon where Klaus Barbie is working to have her executed. Henry is taken in by Pierre's family in Vercors. He realizes that Pierre's mother is not "just a sympathetic mother, taking pity on a lost American boy. She was fighting the war as actively here as he had fought it from the skies. Only her battle seemed scarier, somehow. At least he had a crew with him. She did her part so alone. Secrecy was everything. And if she made a mistake, the price was her son. At least Henry had never had to worry about his actions endangering Ma or Patsy." Pierre's family is denounced and the Nazis murder Pierre's grandfather, arrest his mother who is interrogated and then sent to Ravensbruck. Pierre, alone now is sent to live with the monks. Claudette who helps Henry after he escapes from the Nazis is connected to a maquis group that includes her lover Andre. She sees him murdered when the group is attacked by the Germans.

The sacrifice all these people made on Henry's behalf is not lost on him nor is the terrible reality of war. "...Pierre and his mother, Madame, the teenage guide, the old school teacher -- their faces whirled through his head. He'd never known the potential finality of a good-bye before now. Even when he's held his trembling mother, as he left for England, Henry had been completely convinced that he'd be back, that they'd be eating many a Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner together talking about his adventures. These people - these people who'd risked their lives to save him - he'd never see them again. He felt it in his bones, like an awful ache."

As with the archetypal hero, Henry returns home, his coming unannounced, to the joy of those who wait for him. In Henry Forester, Elliot has crafted an honest, intelligent character whose war experiences do not harden him, but make him more compassionate and understanding. Henry is a realistic character for the time period, drawing strength from his memories of his beloved mother Lilly, hope for a future with the girl he loves - Patsy and his belief in God whom he prays to frequently.

Under A War Torn Sky is a must read for fans of historical fiction. A map of Henry's flight plan and of his journey through Europe would have greatly enhanced this novel. Elliot offers readers a significant and interesting Afterword in which she explains more about the French Resistance and how they were vitally important to the success of D-Day, when the Allied troops finally were able to land on the beaches of Normandy and begin the effort to free Europe.

Book Details:

Under A War Torn Sky by L.M. Elliot
New York: Hyperion Paperbacks for Children       2001
284 pp.

Genevieve's War by Patricia Reilly Giff

Thirteen-year-old Genevieve (Gen) Michel is an American who has been visiting her grandmother, Meme during the summer of 1939. Meme lives on the farm Gen's father, Gerard grew up on in Alsace, France only five miles from the German border. Gen's older brother, Andre has also been visiting for the summer, working in the village bistro. Andre has been working in France the previous two summers, first in Strasbourg and Colmar, then in Basel as a cook in restaurants. He returned to America two weeks ago to begin college where he will study business and eventually open his own restaurant.

Now it is Gen's turn to travel home to America where she will live with her cousin Ellen in Flushing until Christmas. Gen has mixed feelings about returning to America. She doesn't want to stay with Meme, who complains about everything. However, the best part of this summer has been spending time with her friends: Remy, tall with blue eyes and curly hair and her new friend Katrin Moeller on the nearby farm . Remy wants to farm some day, rather than take over his family's pharmacy.

Before coming to France, Gen  lived with her Aunt Marie in Springfield Gardens for as long as she could remember. Her parents died in a train crash when she was very young. Aunt Marie, who is like a mother to her, is teaching in the far north of Canada as part of her preparation for a book she is writing.   

Before Andre had left for America, he told Gen that war was coming to France, that the Germans intend to take back Alsace and invade Europe. Gen would leave just in time, taking a ship back to America. For her it couldn't come soon enough after a summer of Meme's gruff and stern ways, but Andre had felt bad about leaving Meme. 

The day for Gen to leave has arrived. She won't miss pulling cabbages or digging the potatoes, but she will miss Louis the shepherd dog who is Meme's watchdog, and the cow Andre named Elsie. When they climb into the cart, Gen notices Meme is in pain, dragging her left foot which seems to be bleeding. In the village Gen asks Meme to stop so she can say goodbye to Madame Jacques at the patisserie. Meme drops her at the train station where she meets up with Madame Thierry who will accompany her home to America. But when the train arrives, Gen cannot make herself board. Instead she turns around and walks back to the farm. On the way she hides her heavy suitcase and books in a wooded area to pick up the next day.

Her reappearance at the farm does not please Meme whom she finds laying on the bench by the hearth, her ankle bound. She considers Gen head-strong and impulsive, having wasted her Aunt Marie's money on her ticket. However, Remy is surprised and Katrin is happy that Gen has not left France. Even worse when Gen goes to retrieve her suitcase and books she finds they are gone, leaving her with no clothing. Meme gives Gen a few clothes and her father's old school notebook. Gen begins to settle into life on the farm, milking the cow and hanging herbs in the kitchen. 

One day war arrives with the invasion of the Nazis. School does not begin because Monsieur Henri and some of the other teachers are serving in the army. In December 1939, Gen receives a tearstained letter from Aunt Marie admonishing her for staying and fearing for her safety. Gen is homesick but Meme helps by bringing out some of the family traditions; a wooden shoe leaves out for Christmas, and the cutting of a Christmas tree which Gen manages to accomplish. For Christmas dinner there is goose, green beans and tart.

Following the holidays, school begins but there are soon many disturbing changes. In June, Paris falls and the war is over for France. The Germans begin deporting French Jews and those who fought against them in the Great War. At the end of the summer of 1940, Gen helps Meme harvest the many vegetables including carrots, potatoes, cabbage and squash. She also helps with canning the vegetables and making jam. 

On the first day of school they lose their pig to the Germans. When Katrin comes to walk with Gen, she tells her that they are hiding their food from the Germans. At school, students are stunned to discover they are no longer allowed to speak French, their names and street names are Germanized and even wedding rings must be changed to the right hand as is the German custom. All radios must be turned in and books not written in German are to be burned. When the Germans arrive in the village their presence brings fear to everyone. The history teacher, Monsieur Henri is replaced by the strict Herr Albert. The classroom's French flag is taken down and replaced by the Nazi flag.

Things begin to get worse as time passes. Gen helps Meme hide half of their food stores in a secret pantry behind the armoire and she is made to promise not to tell anyone. "You'll see," Meme said, 'There are those who are French, and others who are German sympathizers.' " In November they lose their horse, Sister and the cart to the German army. Even more upsetting, a Nazi officer named Furst begins living with them, taking Meme's bedroom. However, Gen disobeys Meme and tells Katrin everything.

The bombing of the railroad by the French Resistance to stop the Germans from deporting people angers the Germans. Remy is injured, his father is arrested, and his mother and sister forced to escape to neutral Switzerland. As Genevieve is drawn more and more into the Resistance she must learn to show discretion and take responsibility for her actions.

Discussion

Genevieve's War is a coming of age story set in occupied France during World War II.  Gen is only thirteen when the war begins in 1939. She's innocent and trusting, not realizing that in Alsace some French citizens will collaborate with the Germans.

Meme warns Gen repeatedly not to tell anyone about their food stores, about the secret attic where they eventually hide Remy. "We can't trust anyone. Tell no one Genevieve." and later "You'll see," Meme said. "There are those who are French, and others who are German sympathizers." But Gen believes that it will be fine to tell Katrin because she's her friend. Instead of listening to Meme Gen tells Katrin everything - "By the time we saw the school, I'd told her everything I could think of: the attic room, the painting, Louis. I wondered what Meme would say if she knew. But she wouldn't know. Katrin would keep our secret, I was sure of it." At this point, Gen is very naïve and doesn't understand that she might be endangering the lives of others. It isn't until her secret about Remy hiding at Meme's house is revealed and the Nazi's come looking for Remy, that Genevieve begins to understand that this time of war calls for discretion and courage, that she might be responsible for the safety and the lives of those she is helping.

Besides chronicling the war, Genevieve's War also portrays the change in Gen's relationship with her grandmother. At the beginning of the novel it's evident they do not get along. Meme believes Gen is headstrong and impulsive. Likewise Gen has a poor opinion of her grandmother. When she finds an old photograph of Meme with the word Miel written on the back Gen thinks "How pretty she'd been, young and smiling a little. How different from the sour old woman she was now. I turned the picture over. Miel was written on the back. Honey! More like vinegar, if you asked me." Gen believes Meme will be happy when she leaves for  America. When she decides to stay in France, Gen is not welcomed back. " 'You've missed the train, the ship. Headstrong! Do you ever think?'...'A disruption in my life,' I thought I heard her whisper."

Their relationship begins to change when Remy's life is in danger after the bombing of the railway tracks. Gen begins to see the good in her grandmother and Meme comes to see that Gen has some redeemable qualities. Gen displays quick thinking when she is questioned by Furst about where she's been. This earns praise from Meme who tells her "You never cease to surprise me, Genevieve."  Later on Gen becomes angry at Furst for criticizing Meme, telling him she thinks Meme is wonderful. Gen overhears Meme tell Furst she "couldn't get along without her during this terrible time...Her father would have been proud of her."  Gen realizes she is beginning to love Meme.

When Gen disobeys Meme and tells Katrin about Remy hiding in their home, this results in the Nazis coming to search for him. Fortunately, Remy is able to escape, but the kindly woodcutter who is part of the French Resistance is not so lucky. Gen is devastated at her role in this and confesses to Meme the possibility that she might be responsible for what happened to him. However, Meme understands, telling Gen how her father experienced the same thing and that in war, people do what they can. Gen realizes that in this war Meme "...had taken in a girl who was forgetful and messy, who hadn't loved her. She must have known what I was thinking. 'A girl who changed my life,' she said, 'A girl who looked like me when I was young, who acted like the son I loved.' " In the end Meme tells Genevieve, "You have been a gift, Genevieve." She gives Gen her wedding ring hoping it will remind Gen of her grandfather, Victor and Meme. Gen too feels love for Meme. "It's the best gift I've ever had, Miel. I do love you."

Because Genevieve's War is written for 9 to 12 year old's, many of the more terrible aspects of the occupation of France by the Nazis are only hinted at. For example, the deportation of French Jews is only mentioned once and the brutality of the Nazis is downplayed. However, readers are shown how the Nazis took whatever they wanted; animals, food, homes, and vehicles and how their presence creates an atmosphere of fear and mistrust in the village. Younger readers will also have a good understanding of just how dangerous the work of the French Resistance was and how it was difficult to know who to trust. Anyone might be a collaborator or an informant. For example, Gen first believes that their new teacher Herr Albert is a staunch Nazi and someone to be feared. Soon Gen learns that Herr Albert is working for the Resistance. Likewise, Madame Jacques is revealed to be a collaborator.

Genevieve's War is a good introduction to historical fiction for younger readers and offers them the opportunity to learn more about what life was like for a specific group of French during World War II. Reilly Giff provides her readers with a map showing the location of the Alsace region of France in relation to Germany and Switzerland but does not identify the location of Meme's farm. The novel ends on a hopeful note with the liberation of France. The title is a reference to Gen's brother's name for the restaurant he someday wants to open. Overall, a good treatment of the impact of the German occupation of the Alsace region of France during World War II.

Book Details:

Genevieve's War by Patricia Reilly Giff
New York: Holiday House      2017
222 pp.

For Freedom. The Story of a French Spy by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

For Freedom tells the true story of Suzanne David, a former opera singer AND a spy for France.

It is May 29, 1940. Thirteen-year-old Suzanne David lives in Cherbourg with her papa, maman and her brothers, fourteen-year-old Pierre and sixteen-year-old Etienne. Her brothers are too young to be soldiers and Etienne is lame as well. Suzanne attends the convent school located high above Cherbourg in the hills. After a defining solo in the church at Christmas Suzanne was told she has promise as an opera singer. And so she is studying to be an opera singer under the tutelage of Madame Marcelle. 

On this Wednesday however, Suzanne and her friend Yvette Gireau have been given permission by Soeur Margritte to go down to the town provided they finish their homework. For the past six months, France has been at war with Nazi Germany. The French and British armies had been unsucessful in stopping the Germans from taking over much of Europe. Suzanne and her family have seen the British soldiers in Cherbourg: they are polite and do not bother anyone. But everyone is filled with increasing dread because they know Hitler is coming.

In Cherbourg, Suzanne and Yvette go to Place Napoleon which is a large square located near the train station, Gare Maritime, and sit on a bench in front of the Church of Le Trinitie. Suzanne notices that the harbour is empty on this sunny afternoon.In the square Madame Montagne and her little son, Simon come to say hello to the two girls. Madame, who is expecting another baby, tells Simon not to get his feet wet. Suddenly the square, the beach explode as planes fly overhead.  

While Suzanne and Yvette had sheltered beneath the park bench, Madame Montagne was not so lucky. She was dead, her unborn baby, a little girl lay dead beside her. Yvette is in shocking, screaming as Suzanne pulls off her sweater to cover Madame's corpse. Although Yvette wants to run, Suzanne insists that they wait by Madame Montagne until the ambulance arrives. Although Suzanne is shaking, Yvette is deeply traumatized, shaking, crying and she vomits. The two friends manage to make their way back to the convent, where Yvette collapses. Soeur Marie-Auguste, who is the principal, walks Suzanne home.

Suzanne's mother is shocked when she sees her daughter covered in blood. Suzanne explains that she is not hurt but that Madame Montagne is dead. Dr. Leclerc tells Suzanne that she has rock and metal - shrapnel embedded in her lower arms and legs. He removes as much as he can and cleans her wounds, telling her that she may have pieces of shrapnel in her body for the rest of her life. Suzanne tells him she wants to remember nothing of what happened this day, but he remarks that she is very strong.

The next morning, Suzanne's maman walks her back to school. Suzanne doesn't see Yvette at morning Mass but doesn't want to turn around and risk angering the sisters. But Suzanne doesn't see Yvette all day and when she questions Soeur Elisabeth she tells her that Yvette "isn't hurt in her body" but that what they saw yesterday has hurt her. At her music lesson with Madame Marcelle, Suzanne struggles to focus. She is learning a new music written by J.S. Bach, his Magnificat. The music helps ground Suzanne, making her feel safe.

When Yvette doesn't reture to school the following day, Suzanne visits her friend at home. But despite attempting to engage her, Yvette says nothing. Madame Gireau asks Suzanne to come visit again. That night Suzanne's brother return home from the monastery school they attend and they are critical of Suzanne's decision to go to the beach that day. This is when Suzanne learns about the evacuation of four hundred thousand British and French soldiers from Dunkirk by many hundreds of boats. Now Suzanne understands why the harbour was so empty.

Numb with grief, Suzanne helps her mother with shopping at the market on Saturday. Just walking through Napoleon Square brings back the memory of what happened there. On Sunday Suzanne's widowed Aunt Suzanne visits with her six children after Mass. On Monday with the beginning of year end exams, Suzanne and the other students learn that Paris has been bombed. Suzanne had gone to Yvette's home early in the hopes they would walk back to school but Madame Gireau explains that her daughter cannot possibly go to school at this time. At school the students pray the rosary for France. Afterwards, in the dorm room that Suzanne shares with Odette, Martine and Colette, she refuses to talk about the bombing in Cherbourg.

On June 14, the French government declares Paris to be an open city that they would not defend in exchange for the Germans not destroying the city. Panic set in and millions fled the city but Suzanne's two uncles did not.Both of Suxanne's brothers are upset that the Germans have taken over Paris: Etienne wishes he could fight but he is not able to after breaking his back in a fall down the stairs, while Pierre wants to fight the Germans. 

The Germans are close to Cherbourg. The French battleships have either left for England or been deliberately sunk so the Germans cannot use them. Papa tells them that the great General Charles de Gaulle whom he fought under has been warning about Germany for years and that France needed to rearm. Now it is too late. Marshal Petain is now premier of France, but Suzanne's papa believes he is too old and has lost his courage. 

The war comes to Cherbourg as the German army under the command of General Rommel approaches the city. The remnants of the French army fight but quickly succumb to the Germans. The city officials surrender to the Germans and give them the railroad. When Pierre is not happy upon hearing that Papa works as a dispatcher for the Germans, his father explains that he could work for them and recieve his pay to support his family or he could be shot. Suzanne's father takes the position that in order to survive one must "obey the rules and no one gets hurt."

One Wednesday, the Germans burst into Suzanne's home and order them out, after they quickly gather up some of their possessions. The German officer gives them thirty minutes to pack what they need. The houses on two streets Rue Lohen and Rue Loubet as well as the chateau, the hotel and some city buildings. Suzanne's home is on Rue Lohen and the houses on that street were used to house regular German troops. Suzanne's family is taken in by Monsieur and Madame Herbert who allow them to stay in their basement. It takes Suzanne's father three weeks before he is able to find them another place to live.

Meanwhile, France is now divided: the occupied portion that is under the control of the German army and the southern part, called Vichy France under the control of Hitler's puppet regime. Suzanne and her papa feel the Vichy government are traitors. Suzanne and her mother discover the Saturday market has been closed and they are told not to come there again. Suzanne and her family move into the second floor of a rickety house overlooking the cemetery. There is a kitchen, a livingroom, a bathroom, and two bedrooms. An alcove, meant to be a pantry serves as Suzanne's bedroom. Although the apartment smells of old grease, Suzanne realizes that this is the best her papa can do. Papa tells them that General de Gaulle is safe in England and is organizing a government there.

Life begins to change in subtle ways. One day Suzanne sees Guillame, her roommate Odette's brother who was a lieutenant in the French army. Suzanne calls out to him but when he ignores her she realizes that if the Germans learned he was a soldier, he would be arrested and sent to a war camp. Pierre also notes that there was a German soldier behind him in the bakery whom he did not notice. Papa warns them to be careful what they say as there are men and women who are Nazi spies.

Life in Cherbourg goes on:  Suzanne helps Maman, continues her singing lessons with Madame Marcelle, and visitsYvette who still was not talking. Food is rationed with beef, sugar, butter and flour now scarce, wine and cigarettes are rationed. By the end of August, Suzanne begins to notice that people are disappearing. These disappearances coincided with the first of new laws restricting French Jews and also the banning of books by Jewish authors.

In the spring of 1941, Etienne graduates and finds work as a shop clerk, however due to his bad back, he finds the work exhausting. In the summer Suzanne begins taking music lessons three times a week in Madame Marcelle's apartment. She continues to sing in the church choir and is given a new solo to learn for the Feast of the Assumption. Suzanne often would visit her Aunt Suzanne who lived in the country. 

Suxanne and Pierre began their final year of school in the fall of 1941. Suzanne wanted to join the Cherbourg opera company but Madame Marcelle told her she was not yet ready for a such an endeavour.  She continues to miss Yvette whom she considered her best friend. However, Yvette continues to remain at home. She still doesn't speak but she does do the chores that her mother asks of her. In December of 1941, the United States enters the war after the bombing of Pearl Harbor by the Japanese. Suzanne now hopes that maybe this will mean the eventual defeat of the Nazis. 

After a discussion about spies and the Resistance, Suzanne begins to wonder who might be a Nazi spy as she walks through town. Her family learns that their street has been abandoned by the Germans and so they make the decision to go see their home. To their horror, all their possessions are gone, the beautiful mural that Suzanne's mother painted defaced, and the house stripped bare. Suzanne struggles to understand the wanton destruction and the theft of personal items:"Why had they taken things that meant nothing to them?...Everything was gone. I walked around and around my empty room, trying to make sense of it. Gone were clothes, toys, books and photographs." Her family decide to clean the house and they are able to recover some of their possessions which the Germans sold. But while her parents are able to find a lumpy old mattress, Suzanne and her brothers have to sleep on pallets.

In the spring of 1942, Suzanne, now fifteen-years-old, graduates from her convent school. Madame Marcelle informs Suzanne that she is now ready to perform and that she should audition for the part of Josepha, the lead in L'Auberge du Cheval Blanc, the Inn of the White Horse. It is a light opera being performed by the Cherbourg opera company and perfect for Suzanne to begin her career.  Although Suzanne is concerned that she may not get the part because she is too young, Madame Marcelle tells her not to worry, that she has told the director that she would send Suzanne when she was ready. Suzanne is successful and cast as Josepha and performs at the matinee. Madame Marcelle takes her to sing at various venues in Bayeux and Saint-Lo, to various voice instructors, and to concerts. 

In July the Nazis begin rounding up Jews in Cherbourg. While Suzanne did not notice anyone disappearing, her uncle in Paris had seen this happen and tried to intervene. Throughout the fall, Suzanne sang the role of Mimi in La Boheme, Etienne worked part time, and Pierre was employed running messages for customers at a hotel. On November 11, Vichy France is invaded by the German and Italian armies: now all of France is occupied.

In the spring of 1943, Suzanne accidently cut herself with a knife when she tripped. The cut was in her shoulder and quickly became infected. Shortly afterwards, Suzanne was cast as the lead in the opera, Carmen. However, her cut was now so severely infected that she had to see Dr. Leclerc to have the abscess drained. When she returned to have her stitches removed, Dr. Leclerc revealed that he was a spy with Resistance and invited Suzanne, who travelled a great deal to join. He tells her she cannot tell anyone, not her parents, her brothers or Madame Marcelle. When Suzanne goes to see Dr. Leclerc upon her return from Saint-Lo, he tells her that he receives messages that he needs her to carry. Is Suzanne brave enought to help France resist the Nazis? Her prayers for courage are answered as Suzanne become spy number 22.

Discussion

The novel, For Freedom: The Story of a French Spy is based on the experiences of Suzanne David Hall as a French teenager during the Nazi occupation of France in World War II. Suzanne was born January 23, 1927 in Cherbourg, France to Etienne and Desiree Ledoux David. She was thirteen-years-old when Paris was occupied by the Nazis on June 14, 1940. They arrived in Cherbourg on June 17, 1940 and occupied the city until the Allied invasion in 1944. The town was liberated during the Normany invasion that began on June 6, 1944. Cherbourg was a deep water port necessary to the Allied invasion plans. 

Suzanne's determination to fight against the Nazis stemmed from the bombing of Cherbourg and what she witnessed on May 29, 1940 when the Germans bombed the port and the town square. As portrayed in the novel, Suzanne and her friend Yvette witnessed the gruesome death of Madame Montagne and her unborn baby. Yvette never really recovered from what she experienced that day. The Germans confiscated Suzanne's family's home and all the homes on her street. They were ordered out and were not able to return until three years later in 1943. In the novel, Suzanne and her family return in what seems to be either late 1941 or early 1942. The novel incorporates the basic facts of Suzanne's life, from her witnessing the death of Madame Montagne, to her training as an opera singer, and her recruitment by Dr. Leclerc as a spy for the French Resistance. With her acceptance, Suzanne became spy number 22. He would give Suzanne encrypted messages which she  could not read to pass on to other spies whose identities she did not know. 

In the Epilogue, Suzanne David states that the messages she carried contained information that would help the Allies plan the invasion of Europe: things like tides and currents, potential landing sites, and the location of German troops. The Battle of Cherbourg began on June 22, 1944. The Nazis considered the deep water port of Cherbourg to be essential and were determined to defend it at any cost. The Allies required the port for logistical support of the invasion and eventually took control of Cherbourg and the port on July 26. 

Suzanne's life was saved by the June 6th invasion by the Allies. She had been captured by the Nazis and was being interogated in Cherbourg. She later learned that of the twenty-two spies working in Cherbourg, only herself and one other agent survived. The others were executed including Dr. Leclerc and his entire family who were shot in the street.  Suzanne was awarded the Croix de Lorraine by Charles de Gaulle. Suzanne married an American soldier, Larson Hall and moved to Tennessee where she lived out the rest of her life. 

Suzanne had been training as an opera singer and had performed in numerous operas. However, during a performance of Rigoletto, in Paris during 1944,  Suzanne damaged her vocal cords. Her move to Tennessee with her American husband meant her career as an opera singer was over. She never learned if her voice recovered as she never again sang professionally. 

For Freedom adequately portrays life in occupied France during World War II. As with many French citizens, Suzanne struggles to accept what has happened with the German occupation of France. Forced from their home and now living in a squalid apartment overlooking the cemetery, she tells her papa they have taken so much, including Madame Montagne's life. But he tells her, "...our lives belong to the Lord. The Nazi's have not taken our work, Suzanne. They have not taken your voice. They have not taken our courage or our faith. We haven't lost anything of value."

While Suzanne's father has been forced to choose between helping the Nazis run the French trains or being shot, other members of the family and the people of Cherbourg rebel in subtle ways. Etienne walked around with three pencils the colour of the French flag in his shirt pocket, Monsieur Vardin walks about town wearing a white armband with the initials RAF on it. When he is accosted by the German soldiers he tells them it means "rein a fumer" or "nothing to smoke". 

When the Nazis begin burning books written by Jews, Suzanne doesn't understand why she should be concerned. But Madame Marcelle explains that it is wrong to burn them because like music, books are art and shouldn't be banned. When Suzanne questions her roommates at school, they realize that they know very few Jews because Cherbourg is mostly Catholic and that any Jews they know do not look any different. 

Although they endure food rationing and shortages, the reality of life under Nazi rule is not really explored in depth. Like other French citizens, Suzanne experiences questioning by soldiers and once when forgetting her identification papers, she and Madame Marcelle were forced to spend the night hidden in a hay bale as they would not have been able to pass through a German checkpoint. She struggles to find warm clothing and dresses to fit. The rounding up and deportation of French Jews doesn't seem to be central to her war experience probably because Cherbourg was a mainly Catholic town. 

However, the focus on the story is Suzanne's work as a spy. Suzanne's eventual work as a spy is foreshadowed early in the novel. At home her family discusses if General de Gaulle is a spy. Her father notes that he himself is not a spy.  "I stared at Papa, hearing his words over in my mind: if I were a spy. I didn't think for one moment that Papa was actually a spy, but the phrase awakened a sense of possibility in me. I'd understood from the start of the war that there people in France spying on the French for the Germans, but I hadn't considered that the opposite must be true, that there were people spying on the Germans. Fighting for the Free French. Fighting for de Gaulle."

It is Suzanne's inner strength, her courage that ultimately leads to her becoming a spy for the Resistance. This courage manifests itself from the beginning of the war. The bombing of the town square in Cherbourg, while devastating to her friend Yvette, does not impact Suzanne in the same way.  Dr. Leclerc quickly notes Suzanne's strength of character. As she's being treated by Dr. Leclerc after the bombing he notes her strength. " 'So? You are not one who cries, eh?' Dr. Leclerc patted my cheek with approval...'Tough girl.' " Years later when she visits Dr. Leclerc for treatment of a wound in her shoulder, he is impressed with her courage and toughness. He forewarns her that he will have to cut her open with a knife and that he has nothing to alleviate her pain.  "The pain was worse than I thought it could be, much worse than the pain of the abscess itself.  I didn't cry out. I held still."  

It is these qualities plus the fact that as a performer who travels throughout France that prompts Leclerc to ask Suzanne if she would like to help him in his "work" - the work of carrying messages. He tells her, "And if you agree to help me, you can never back out. Not ever, no matter what. You must help me until the very end."   Suzannne agrees but when she meets Dr Leclerc later he questions if she is afraid. He tells her, "If you aren't brave enough, it is better that you say so now...If you lose heart later, you will endanger others besides yourself. You will endanger me, my family, and many people you don't know. Do you think you have enough courage?"  Dr. Leclerc explains that she will pass on coded messages to people she will not know.  Madame Marcelle advises Suzanne, "When you tell a lie first, say as little as possible. If you do something without explanation, it's less suspicious than if your explanation makes no sense. Second, always be as truthful as possible. Keep all the details absolutely true, except for the little central part that can't escape being a lie. The more truth you can put into the lie, the less likely it is that you'll trip yourself." This advice foreshadows Suzanne's future capture by the Nazis for her work as a spy for the Resistance.

In For Freedom, Brubaker Bradley highlights the central role her Catholic faith played during this difficult time of her life. In the novel Suzaane frequently prays for others and for courage. After the bombing of the town square, Suzanne prays for the little boy, Simon Montagne whom she doesn't see anywhere. " Please, God, let him have run home...Please, God, let him live."  While learning to sing J.S. Bach's Magnificat, Suzanne thinks, "There had to be a God, I thought. A vibrant, joyous God in heaven, to make up for the awfulness of what people sometimes did on earth. There had to be a heaven, so that Madame Montagne had a place to go."

Suzanne David's strong Catholic faith was to sustain her in her work in the Resistance. Upon learning that Dr. Leclerc is involved in spying, Suzanne prays, "Dear God, make me strong." Anyone working against the Nazis in France was executed, so the danger was very real for Suzanne and her family. When she is given her first assignment Suzanne prays, "Mary, Mother of God...you will have to help me. Give me strength." 

After Suzanne was taken in by the Germans for questioning, she remained strong and prayed. "I didn't cry. I didn't give in. I made my voice soft, level, so that I would not further harm my vocal cords. In the intervals of silence they granted me, I prayed. Je vous salue, Marie, plein de grace, le Seigneur et avec vous,.. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you. I would have counted a rosary on my fingers, but the silence never lasted that long. I prayed, Make me strong." Suzanne remained strong long enough that she was saved by the Allied invasion that began a day later on Tuesday June 6th, 1944. 

For Freedom is a short, high interest novel about an important French heroine in World War II. It is recommended for students who might not be avid readers and need something that is high interest or who require a short historical novel for English class. A map showing the location of Cherbourg and the beaches involved in the Normandy Invasion would have been helpful.

Book Details:
For Freedom. The Story of a French Spy by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
New York: Dell Laurel-Leaf           2003
181 pp.