Overview

From the author of the New York Times bestseller A Train in Winter comes the absorbing story of a French village that helped save thousands hunted by the Gestapo during World War II-told in full for the first time. Le Chambon-sur-Lignon is a small village of scattered houses high in the mountains of the Ardeche, one of the most remote and inaccessible parts of Eastern France. During the Second World War, the inhabitants of this tiny mountain village and its parishes saved thousands wanted by the Gestapo: resisters, Freemasons, communists, OSS and SOE agents, and Jews. Many of those they protected were orphaned children and babies whose parents had been deported to concentration camps. With unprecedented access to newly opened archives in France, Britain, and Germany, and interviews with some of the villagers from the period who are still alive, Caroline Moorehead paints an inspiring portrait of courage and determination: of what was accomplished when a small group of people banded together to oppose their Nazi occupiers. A thrilling and atmospheric tale of silence and complicity, Village of Secrets reveals how every one of the inhabitants of Chambon remained silent in a country infamous for collaboration. Yet it is also a story about mythmaking and the fallibility of memory. A major contribution to WWII history, Village of Secrets sets the record straight about the events in Chambon, and pays tribute to a group of heroic individuals, most of them women, for whom saving others became more important than their own lives.

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9781483048789

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Reviews

Documenting bravery in an isolated corner of France, Suzanne Toren narrates with clarity and authority...Toren pronounces French surnames and place names smoothly and accurately. -- AudioFile Moorehead recounts the story of a small area in eastern France where opposition to the Nazis succeeded for years...Moorehead's knowledge of the people, the area, and the history make this one of the most engrossing survival stories of World War II. -- Kirkus Reviews [An] examination of an extraordinary pocket of people who selflessly risked their personal safety in order to do the right thing...Moorehead not only recounts the heroics but also the everyday ordinariness of those involved, busting the embellished mythology while emphasizing the essential humanity of the entire operation. -- Booklist Moorehead's deeply researched, crisply written, and well-paced work will stand as the definitive account of a heroic, hazardous, and uplifting initiative during the German occupation. -- Publishers Weekly Based on interviews with survivors and relatives and extensive archival research...an exciting history of nearly forgotten individual and group courage. Highly recommended. -- Library Journal (starred review) The vivid narrative takes on a cliffhanger quality...a rich, haunting account that leaves us with an uncomfortable question: What might have happened if more people had refused to go along? -- Minneapolis Star Tribune [Moorehead] has done us the great service of unveiling the real lives behind the myth and in demonstrating that fallible human beings are far more interesting and dramatic figures than those who make up the stuff of legends. -- New York Times Book Review Le Chambon has long been mythologized in France for the actions of its inhabitants.... But, as this riveting history shows, the story is more complex...If the picture Moorhead paints is messier than the myth, this only serves to enhance the heroism of the main actors. -- New Yorker The definitive account...[an] unblinking expose of resistance during the war. -- Wall Street Journal

Le Chambon has long been mythologized in France for the actions of its inhabitants.... But, as this riveting history shows, the story is more complex...If the picture Moorhead paints is messier than the myth, this only serves to enhance the heroism of the main actors. -- New Yorker [An] examination of an extraordinary pocket of people who selflessly risked their personal safety in order to do the right thing...Moorehead not only recounts the heroics but also the everyday ordinariness of those involved, busting the embellished mythology while emphasizing the essential humanity of the entire operation. -- Booklist [Moorehead] has done us the great service of unveiling the real lives behind the myth and in demonstrating that fallible human beings are far more interesting and dramatic figures than those who make up the stuff of legends. -- New York Times Book Review Based on interviews with survivors and relatives and extensive archival research...an exciting history of nearly forgotten individual and group courage. Highly recommended. -- Library Journal (starred review) Documenting bravery in an isolated corner of France, Suzanne Toren narrates with clarity and authority...Toren pronounces French surnames and place names smoothly and accurately. -- AudioFile Moorehead recounts the story of a small area in eastern France where opposition to the Nazis succeeded for years...Moorehead's knowledge of the people, the area, and the history make this one of the most engrossing survival stories of World War II. -- Kirkus Reviews Moorehead's deeply researched, crisply written, and well-paced work will stand as the definitive account of a heroic, hazardous, and uplifting initiative during the German occupation. -- Publishers Weekly The definitive account...[an] unblinking expose of resistance during the war. -- Wall Street Journal The vivid narrative takes on a cliffhanger quality...a rich, haunting account that leaves us with an uncomfortable question: What might have happened if more people had refused to go along? -- Minneapolis Star Tribune

Author Information

Caroline Moorehead is the biographer of Bertrand Russell, Freya Stark, Iris Origo, Lucie de la Tour du Pin, and Martha Gellhorn. Well known for her work in human rights, she has published a history of the Red Cross and an acclaimed book about refugees, Human Cargo. Suzanne Toren has over thirty years of experience in narration. She has won the American Foundation for the Blind's Scourby Award for Narrator of the Year, AudioFile magazine named her the 2009 Best Voice in Nonfiction & Culture, and she is the recipient of multiple Earphones Awards. She performs on and off Broadway and in regional theaters and has appeared on Law & Order and in various soap operas.

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