Overview

When granted a residency at an artists' retreat in the picturesque village of Auvillar, in southwestern France, writer Sandell Morse noticed a puzzling lack of Jewish memorials and landmarks there that marked the resistance of local Jews against the Nazis. By gaining the friendship and confidence of the survivors and townspeople over years of research, interviews, and correspondence, Morse relates numerous accounts of bravery and selfless acts by those who chose to fight against bigotry, oppression, and genocide, in a moving and up-close look at a war also raging on a global scale. Inspired by her determination to learn the truth - and with a fossilized spiral shell she'd found in the wall of the Jewish quarter in Paris as a talisman - Morse also writes of a deeper meaning and understanding of her own Jewish heritage in the context of her research on the war and the village. In this year that marks the 80th anniversary of the deportation of thousands of French Jews to Auschwitz, this memoir reflects on a harrowing time in our world's history that still reverberates today, and provides a moving tribute to those who resisted.

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9781639640027

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The Spiral Shell is an evocative, probing, heartfelt memoir, as rich in character and detail as the best fiction. injunction There are all kinds of reckonings here: personal, historical, spiritual. There is a vivid present as well as a vividly imagined past, a voice that is at turns charming, grieving, outraged and wry. Sandell Morse illuminates with wisdom and grace Eli Wiesel's timeless that, For the dead and the living, we must bear witness. -ALICE MCDERMOTT, Author of Charming Billy and The Bigamist's Daughter--Alice McDermott, author It was a pleasure to read Sandell Morse's debut memoir...a sort of family detective story so many of us know...that provides much more than just answers. Elegant, erudite, passionate. --ALEXANDER CHEE, author of How to Write and Autobiographical Novel The Spiral Shell depicts two vivid journeys, one inward, as Sandell Morse explores her own identity as a Jew and one outward, as she pieces together the history of French Jews under the Vichy government. Each journey is fraught with reversals, full of unexpected details and betrayals at many levels... This is a necessary, illuminating and beautifully intelligent memoir. -MARGOT LIVESEY, Author of Mercury and The Hidden Machinery: Essays on Writing

It was a pleasure to read Sandell Morse's debut memoir...a sort of family detective story so many of us know...that provides much more than just answers. Elegant, erudite, passionate. --ALEXANDER CHEE, author of How to Write and Autobiographical Novel--Alexander Chee The Spiral Shell depicts two vivid journeys, one inward, as Sandell Morse explores her own identity as a Jew and one outward, as she pieces together the history of French Jews under the Vichy government. Each journey is fraught with reversals, full of unexpected details and betrayals at many levels... This is a necessary, illuminating and beautifully intelligent memoir. MARGOT LIVESEYAuthor of Mercury and The Hidden Machinery: Essays on Writing--Margot Livesey, author The Spiral Shell is an evocative, probing, heartfelt memoir, as rich in character and detail as the best fiction. injunction There are all kinds of reckonings here: personal, historical, spiritual. There is a vivid present as well as a vividly imagined past, a voice that is at turns charming, grieving, outraged and wry. Sandell Morse illuminates with wisdom and grace Eli Wiesel's timeless that, For the dead and the living, we must bear witness. ALICE MCDERMOTTAuthor of Charming Billy and The Bigamist's Daughter--Alice McDermott, author

Author Information

Author Sandell Morse is a non-fiction writer whose works have appeared in several major literary magazines, including, Ascent, Ploughshares, and Solstice. She has received Notable Mention in Best American Essays 2013, and a nomination for the Pushcart Prize and Best of The Net. She lives in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

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