About Village of Secrets
• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Harper (October 28, 2014)
From the author of the New York Times bestseller A Train in Winter comes the fascinating story of a French village that helped save thousands hunted by the Gestapo during World War II.
High up in the mountains of the southern Massif Central in France lie tiny, remote villages united by a long and particular history. During the Second World War, the inhabitants of Le Chambon-sur-Lignon and its parishes saved thousands wanted by the Gestapo: resisters, Freemasons, communists, and, above all, Jews, many of them orphans whose parents had been deported to concentration camps. There were no informers, no denunciations, and no one broke ranks. During raids, the children would hide in the woods, their packs on their backs, waiting to hear the farmers’ song that told them it was safe to return. After the war, Le Chambon became one of only two places in the world to be honored by Yad Vashem as Righteous Among Nations.
Just why and how Le Chambon and its outlying villages came to save so many people has never fully been told. With unprecedented access to newly opened archives in France, Britain, and Germany, along with interviews documenting the testimony of surviving villagers, Caroline Moorehead paints an inspiring portrait of courage and determination: of what was accomplished when a small group of people banded together to oppose tyranny.
A major contribution to the history of the Second World War, illustrated with black-and-white photographs,Village of Secrets sets the record straight about the events in Chambon and pays tribute to a group of heroic individuals for whom saving others became more important than their own lives.
Purchase Links
Amazon | IndieBound | Barnes & Noble
About Caroline Morehead
Caroline Moorehead is the New York Times bestselling author of A Train in Winterand Human Cargo: A Journey Among Refugees, which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. An acclaimed biographer of Martha Gellhorn, Bertrand Russell, and Lucie de la Tour du Pin, among others, Moorehead has also written for the Telegraph, the Times, and the Independent. She lives in London and Italy.
Caroline’s Tour Stops
Wednesday, October 15th: The Year in Books
Thursday, October 16th: nightlyreading
Friday, October 17th: Back Porchervations
Monday, October 20th: Man of La Book
Tuesday, October 21st: Love at First Book
Wednesday, October 22nd: Ace and Hoser Blook
Thursday, October 23rd: JulzReads
Monday, October 27th: Based on a True Story
Tuesday, October 28th: A Book Geek
Wednesday, October 29th: Dwell in Possibility
Tuesday, November 4th: Books on the Table
Thursday, November 6th: Svetlana’s Reads and Books
Friday, November 7th: Book Addict Katie
Monday, November 10th: Diary of an Eccentric
Saturday, November 15th: My Bookshelf