French women and the French resistance during World War II have been themes in my recent reading. Both All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr and The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah show the women’s roles in the resistance and how ordinary people bit-by-bit cooperated with the Nazis.
Author Hannah tells the story of Isabelle Rossignol and Vianne Mauriac “Vianne the rule follower and Isabelle the rebel”, two sisters who resisted Nazis in their own way, both taking advantage of the assumption that “it’s a fact that women are useless in war.”
Isabelle was a rebellious woman who ran away from home and was often kicked out school. When to Nazis arrived, she was eager to join the resistance and took the dangerous job of escorting downed pilots to Spain. In this high-profile job, she earned the praise of the British and Americans, even if some of her benefactors resented taking orders from a woman. The Germans also knew of her work, as The Nightingale, and had a desperate manhunt to find her. Their search was hampered by their belief that The Nightingale had to be a man.
Vianne had a daughter and took the less flamboyant, but also dangerous, role of hiding Jewish children.
These novels have the dual themes of general Nazi resistance and resistance by women. The former addresses the history of French-Nazi collaboration and the latter shows the important role of women during World War II.
If you can tolerate the horrific terror and brutality of the Nazis, this is a story of women’s resistance against violence. Note that neither novel is not a tale of good triumphing over evil.
Check out https://amazon.com/shop/influencer-20171115075 for book recommendations.
No comments:
Post a Comment