Friday, November 15, 2013

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.

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Recent Books I've Read

  • Confederate in the Attic
  • Where Men Win Glory
  • Zeitoun
  • Body Surfing
  • Secret's of Eden
  • Sarah's Key
  • The Year of Magical Thinking
  • The 19th Wife
  • Out Stealing Horses
  • The Help

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About Me

We retired after years of being in the computer support business, Jane with Brulin Corp and John with Unisys. We tried tent camping but finally settled on RV living. While we are part timers now, we hope to move to becoming full-timers eventually. John works on his HO model of Ellis, KS UP railroad and Jane persues her search for used books to read and sell on Amazon. We winter in Apache Junction, AZ and summer in Indiana.