Overview

During the occupation of France in WWII the villages around Le Chambon-sur-Lignon pulled off an astonishing and largely unknown feat. Risking everything, they underwent a long-running battle of nerves and daring to hide 5,000 men, women and children, 3,500 of them Jews, from the Nazis and their Vichy stooges. Despite the danger, a whole community rallied together, from the pacifist pastor who defied orders to the glamorous female agent with a wooden leg, from the 18-year-old master forger to the schoolgirl who ran suitcases stuffed with money for the Resistance. Told using first-hand testimonies of many of the survivors and face-to-face interviews conducted by the author, A Good Place to Hide is the thrilling story of ordinary people who thwarted the Nazis and sheltered strangers in desperate need.

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9781857886498

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Reviews

'Incredibly moving... Ordinary people doing extraordinary things in the most extraordinary circumstances. A book full of love for the region. Grose underlines underlines the role played by the brilliant forger, Oscar Rosowsky. A reminder of the best that humans are capable of, but also an inspiration.' --Times Literary Supplement 'A story resonant in our days, the age of refugees, and a grand narrative in its own right, all told with absorbing skill. Peter Grose's tale of the astounding rescue village of Chambon is a tale of the practical deliverance of the hunted from the Nazis. A book to cherish and recommend!' --Thomas Keneally, author of SCHINDLER'S ARK 'Peter Grose's book stands out as a complete story about life on the Plateau during World War II. Peter uses only facts to tell us a true story. He is one of those rare raconteurs who can write a history book that reads like a novel.' --Nelly Trocme, eyewitness and daughter of Andre and Magda Trocme 'A fine book and a captivating and heartening story.' --Scotsman 'Grose has written ...ambitious book that covers, among other things, the history of French Protestantism and the policy of the Vichy government, It is, however, the individual stories that stand out. Some striking characters cross their pages. Albert Camus came to the plateau, hoping that the air would be good for his tuberculosis, and wrote the first draft of La Peste there. Virginia Hall, an American adventuress so hard-bitten that she would have made Ernest Hemingway look like Marcel Proust, was sent to contact the local Maquis. She received packets of tea with parachute drops of weapons and refused to accept that having a wooden leg and an atrocious accent might make her an unsuitable guerrilla leader. Above all, this book depicts the mosaic of little tragedies behind the collective tragedy of death and deportation.' --Evening Standard 'Extraordinary.' --Daily Mirror 'Fabulous. A page-turning account, told with the full cooperation of many of the survivors. Meticulous and dogged research. Compelling.' --Caroline Sanderson, The Bookseller, 'Ones to Watch' 'Well written in a pleasant style and easy to read... A fascinating and inspiring story.' --The Association of Jewish Refugees Journal 'A compelling story of wartime bravery and the plight of refugees.' --France 'There are numerous stories of individuals in occupied France sheltering Jews, but what makes this story different is that it tells the tale of a whole community taking collective action. The area, just south of Lyon, is Le Plateau, and the centre of activity was the village of Le Chambon--sur--Lignon tellingly, Huguenot territory. This meticulously researched, intriguing account documents the key figures, such as the pastor who galvanised community resolve to shelter the refugees at the risk of death, a young Jewish man who turned out to be a master forger (and who created thousands of false papers), an American operating under cover for the SOE as a journalist and many others. Peter Grose, in restrained prose that accentuates the sheer drama of the situation, delivers a salutary and resonant tale of a community rising to its best.' --Sydney Morning Herald The kind of historical non-fiction that proves how riveting a true story can be. --The Hoopla 'Powerful and richly told, THE GREATEST ESCAPE speaks to the goodness and courage of ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances --Sunshine Coast Sunday

Author Information

Peter Grose is a former journalist, foreign correspondent, literary agent at Curtis Brown and publisher at Secker & Warburg. Until recently he was chairman of ACP UK. He now lives in France. www.petergrose.net

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