................from this author.
Rachel Hore's books are always so well researched. This is her latest and is the fictional account based on two real women who showed courage and resilience in World War II.
This is the story of one of the secret organisations working in occupied France. Much has been written about the French Resistance , working directly against the Nazis but another organisation - The Alliance- secretly gathered valuable information using agents all around the country and passed this to MI6 in England.
Details from the Fantastic Fiction website............
In Occupied France
Marie-Louise, a headstrong, single woman with two young children, is recruited into a secret intelligence network. She must collect privileged information about German military activities to help the Allies liberate her country. Her skill and daring will propel her to the top of the organization - and along a path of hidden passion and extreme danger.
Deep in the English countryside
Sarah, a Sussex wife and mother, looks after evacuees and keeps the home fires burning while her husband is away on secret war work. When she’s suddenly plucked from this life of humdrum duty to run a safe house for foreign agents, she is forced to make sacrifices that threaten her health, her family and her personal happiness.
As Marie-Louise and Sarah’s lives collide, the danger mounts in this exciting and moving story about the resilience of the human spirit.
The real life women were Marie-Madeline Meric - who published her own memoir in 1968 Noah's Ark and Barbara Bertram wrote French Resistance in Sussex. Her son Jerome later wrote a book about his mother and father's war work The Secret of Bignor Manor.
Rachel Hore says in her Authors note
"In my novel I have simplified historical events and the large cast of characters for dramatic reasons and to avoid writing a multi-volume work!"
and the book really does race through the 6 years of war but as she says it was the best way to do it or the book would have been huge.
I've enjoyed many of this authors books and this is another really good read.
I am off to check out those women :) It is incredible what normal woman can achieve despite what is thrown at them.
ReplyDeleteI have been watching Paris Police 1900 and was interested to discover that several of the central characters are real - Jeanne Chauvin, Jules Guerin and Meg Steinheil - so I went down a rabbit hole looking them up - fascinating - particularly the women who showed such resilience and resourcefulness to survive in a male driven situation. Ok, the series probably 'hollywood-ed' it up a bit for the drama, but still very enjoyable.
Hadn't heard of that TV series, I shall investigate and have a look.
DeleteThanks for recommending a ‘new to me’ author. I had a quick look and it seems my library has quite a few of her works which is good to hear
ReplyDeleteI think the first of hers I read was The Glass Painters Daughter. There are one or two that I've not been able to get into but have read several
DeleteI will recommend this to my Dorset friend who loves the 2nd World War.
ReplyDeleteI hope she'll be able to find it and enjoys it as much as I did
DeleteWell another good TV drama is Marble Hall Murders on BBC Iplayer. Though it is a fairly similar plot in the sense we have one alive and one dead person solving the clues, something television or at least its writers relish at the moment.
ReplyDeleteI've seen the earlier ones in this series so will watch this one too soon. I tried the books but found I couldn't make sense of them but on TV it works better.
DeleteSounds very good! I don't think she is published in the US, unfortunately. I read one book called The Memory Garden, set in Cornwall, which I liked, but I must have found it while in the UK.
ReplyDeleteOh how annoying. Hope you can track them down somewhere, several are worth reading.
DeleteCan't find that here. I'm enjoying the Maggie Hope series by Susan Elia MacNeal which I think I have mentioned already.
ReplyDeleteOn TV, I like all of the BBC mystery series that I can get on my Public Television Station.
The strength of some women in times of war/great danger and hard times is impressive. The books sound outstanding. I'll inquire at my library.
ReplyDeleteSusan
I wonder if I can manage to find this book. Hope so.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
this is my type of book, thanks for the review.
ReplyDeleteThanks. I made note of this book to look for in the future. Right now reading a book that someone recommended but I don't recall who or even when I requested it from inter library loan "The Corner That Held Them" written in 1948. Could it have been you?
ReplyDelete