Village of Secrets: Defying the Nazis in Vichy France - eBook

Caroline Moorehead is the New York Times bestselling author of Village of Secrets: Defying the Nazis in Vichy France; A Train in Winter: An Extraordinary Story of Women, Friendship, and Resistance in Occupied France; and Human Cargo: A Journey Among Refugees, which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. An acclaimed biographer, Moorehead has also written for the New York Review of Books, the Guardian, the Times, and the Independent. She lives in London and Italy.

“[Moorehead] has done us the great service of unveiling the real lives behind the myth and in demonstrating that fallible human beings are far more interesting and dramatic figures than those who make up the stuff of legends.”
“The definitive account… [an] unblinking exposé of resistance during the war.”
“The remote French village of Le Chambon-sur-Lignon…. has been the subject of numerous articles, books, and films. But Moorehead’s Village of Secrets is the best account I’ve seen in any medium. Emphatically not a debunking, this telling of the story is nonetheless deeply nuanced.”
Praise for A Train in Winter: “By turns heartbreaking and inspiring.”
“A moving novelistic portrait. . . . An inspiring and fascinating read.”
“A Train in Winter is the first complete account of these extraordinary women. . . . Moorehead’s group portrait offers an important new perspective not only on the suffering and courage of those in Auschwitz and other concentration camps, but of the complex French response to the German occupation. Careful research and sensitive retelling.”
“Le Chambon has long been mythologized in France for the actions of its inhabitants…. But, as this riveting history shows, the story is more complex... If the picture Moorhead paints is messier than the myth, this only serves to enhance the heroism of the main actors.”
“Informative, comprehensive, and nuanced….Moorehead’s deeply researched, crisply written, and well-paced work will stand as the definitive account of a heroic, hazardous, and uplifting initiative during the German occupation.”
“An exciting history of nearly forgotten individual and group courage. Highly recommended.”
“Moorehead not only recounts the heroics but also the everyday ordinariness of those involved, busting the embellished mythology while emphasizing the essential humanity of the entire operation.”
“The vivid narrative takes on a cliffhanger quality….a rich, haunting account that leaves us with an uncomfortable question: What might have happened if more people had refused to go along?”
“A wonderful story of the people of more than 20 communes who saved more refugees, proportionately, than anywhere else in France….Moorehead’s knowledge of the people, the area and the history make this one of the most engrossing survival stories of World War II.”
“Leaves one with a mixture of elation and great sadness. And it obliges the reader to stare at facts each of which is like the head of a Gorgon.”
“Harrowing and luminous…. Even this pessimist could not have imagined the death camps of the Third Reich, or the villainy of Adolf Hitler’s French collaborators. Their indecency has been exposed many times since the end of WWII, but rarely with the force and detail of Caroline Moorehead’s Village of Secrets.”