Resistance, Collaboration, and the Women of Paris Under Nazi Occupation
August 8, 2016
Sebba (That Woman), a former Reuters foreign correspondent, burrows into the lives of women in the City of Light during WWII to reveal their captivating and complicated stories. Rather than simply presenting the women as collaborators or resisters, Sebba shows the impossible choices they faced, which hardly seemed like choices at all. This is the book’s heart, and it pulsates from start to finish. That focus is slightly marred by Sebba’s broad interpretation of “Parisiennes.” She uses it to describe women who lived in the city, including French citizens and noncitizens alike, and those who didn’t spend the entire war within the confines of the city. It’s logical to include noncitizens such as Irène Némirovsky and Noor Inayat Khan, who’d both lived in France for about 20 years before the war started. But passages on the “Grey Mice”—German women who came to work in Paris during the war—belong in another book. While extending the story outside of Paris allows Sebba more range in discussing the dangers of Resistance work and the devastating deportations, it blurs what could have been an incisive, powerful portrait of an imperiled city. Sebba’s clear-eyed narrative concludes, correctly, that these women deserve understanding, not judgment. Photos. Agent: Clare Alexander, Aitken Alexander.
An extensively researched cultural history of Paris from 1939 to 1949, covering events leading to the fall of Paris, its occupation by the Nazis, and the early postwar years.Journalist Sebba (That Woman: The Life of Wallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor, 2012, etc.), a former Reuters foreign correspondent, pored over memoirs, diaries, and letters, read books, watched films, handled artifacts, and interviewed women who lived through the events to understand how the war changed the lives of Parisiennes and how they adjusted to loss, fear, and hunger under occupation. Women were forced to make difficult choices, and the author convincingly demonstrates that this was a complicated business, that their options were limited as they struggled to live alongside their male Nazi occupiers and care for their families in the absence of men, many of whom were serving overseas or were prisoners of war. The stories show the good and bad sides of human nature as women resisted, suffered, and died or collaborated and flourished. In postwar Paris, female collaborators were publicly shamed, but the work of women resistors often went unrecognized because they were not part of an official organization. Sebba brings their stories to light and also highlights women who made less-than-honorable compromises. She seems to have a fondness for the socially prominent, making her vulnerable to the charge of name-dropping, and she gratuitously brings in big names in the fashion world--e.g., Christian Dior gets space because his sister was a member of the resistance. Since the book is divided into chapters that cover one year, individuals whose stories begin in an early year may not appear again for several years, making their narratives hard to follow. The back-of-the book list of the cast of characters is an essential guide for befuddled readers. Despite the gossipy bits, the research is impressive, and Sebba offers balance to the plethora of war histories featuring the roles of men. The book has ample material for lively discussion in women's studies classes. COPYRIGHT(1) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
July 1, 2016
Residing in Paris during World War II meant living a life of fear. Under the Nazi regime, people were forced to make life or death decisions every day. Sebba (American Jennie) investigates a population rarely examined when discussing the City of Light in the 1940s: women. The narrative incorporates women from all walks of life: rich and poor, collaborators and resistors, Jewish wives and mothers along with those who offered them safety. In fact, the author mentions so many individuals that it can be difficult to keep track of the names, but the further readers delve into the book, the more they'll become entranced. The women of this period accomplished a lot, not only resisting Nazi influence but also keeping some semblance of normalcy in the household and among family and friends. Sebba proves that those who risked everything were never quite honored properly, taking on the task of paying respect to the lives of the Parisiennes who sacrificed for their city and the people they loved. VERDICT Despite its lengthy cast of characters, Sebba's work delivers an intriguing perspective of an overlooked group during a time when all were tested beyond their limits. Paris history buffs will enjoy a new look at the city during World War II. [See Prepub Alert, 4/10/16.]--Rebecca Kluberdanz, New York P.L.
Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
Starred review from September 1, 2016
Former Reuters correspondent and biographer, most notably of Wallis Simpson (That Woman, 2012), turns in a fascinating account of how the buildup to WWII, the war itself, and its aftermath marked the lives of Parisian women. Her organizing principle, as stated in the prologue, is choice. While recognizing that women sometimes had no choice, Sebba presents the myriad everyday and moral decisions that French women made, sometimes with flair, sometimes with heroism or with treachery, and often with anguish. Sebba conducted a series of interviews with surviving Frenchwomen, drawing as well from memoirs, diaries, letters, and popular magazines of the time. She studied artifacts of the era as well; for example, she writes about viewing cork- and wooden-soled shoes, which made a unique clacking sound during the Occupation. Her interviews, while riveting, often come abruptly into the text without enough introduction. It's the details that will stay with the reader, like the bottles of Napoleon brandy one French family carried in the trunk of their car during l'Exode from Paris to the south; the setting of French time one hour earlier to match German time as soon as the Occupation began; and the fact that women stood in line for an average of four hours a day to obtain food, while the German soldiers stationed in Paris spent six-and-a-half-million francs on opera tickets during the Occupation. A standout social history.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)
August 15, 2016
An extensively researched cultural history of Paris from 1939 to 1949, covering events leading to the fall of Paris, its occupation by the Nazis, and the early postwar years.Journalist Sebba (That Woman: The Life of Wallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor, 2012, etc.), a former Reuters foreign correspondent, pored over memoirs, diaries, and letters, read books, watched films, handled artifacts, and interviewed women who lived through the events to understand how the war changed the lives of Parisiennes and how they adjusted to loss, fear, and hunger under occupation. Women were forced to make difficult choices, and the author convincingly demonstrates that this was a complicated business, that their options were limited as they struggled to live alongside their male Nazi occupiers and care for their families in the absence of men, many of whom were serving overseas or were prisoners of war. The stories show the good and bad sides of human nature as women resisted, suffered, and died or collaborated and flourished. In postwar Paris, female collaborators were publicly shamed, but the work of women resistors often went unrecognized because they were not part of an official organization. Sebba brings their stories to light and also highlights women who made less-than-honorable compromises. She seems to have a fondness for the socially prominent, making her vulnerable to the charge of name-dropping, and she gratuitously brings in big names in the fashion worlde.g., Christian Dior gets space because his sister was a member of the resistance. Since the book is divided into chapters that cover one year, individuals whose stories begin in an early year may not appear again for several years, making their narratives hard to follow. The back-of-the book list of the cast of characters is an essential guide for befuddled readers. Despite the gossipy bits, the research is impressive, and Sebba offers balance to the plethora of war histories featuring the roles of men. The book has ample material for lively discussion in womens studies classes.
COPYRIGHT(2016) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.