A Train in Winter by Caroline Moorehead

This was an incredible story of a group of 230 French women who were taken by train to Germany during the German occupation of France during WWII.  The author was fortunate to have interviewed a few of the survivors and was able to hear their story.  It is shocking to read and I was in tears at the end.  But I learned so much.  While I've read a number of books about that period in history, this one hit me hard.  Perhaps because I had names to put to a particular incident.  A woman shot, gassed or clubbed to death whom I knew something about her family, brought the story closer.  I couldn't distance myself from it as well as in other books where the victims are nameless.

I learned a lot about the occupation and the many French people who collaborated with  the Germans.  So there was even more admiration for those who resisted.  It was  interesting and understandable to read the stories of what happened to the survivors as they returned to France.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants a better understanding of this era of history.