Village of Secrets

Defying the Nazis in Vichy France

By: Caroline Moorehead

Narrated by: Suzanne Toren

From the author of the New York Times bestseller A Train in Winter comes the fascinating story of a French village that helped save thousands hunted by the Gestapo during World War II.

High up in the mountains of the southern Massif Central in France lie tiny, remote villages united by a long and particular history. During the Second World War, the inhabitants of Le Chambon-sur-Lignon and its parishes saved thousands wanted by the Gestapo: resisters, Freemasons, communists, and, above all, Jews, many of them orphans whose parents had been deported to concentration camps. There were no informers, no denunciations, and no one broke ranks. During raids, the children would hide in the woods, their packs on their backs, waiting to hear the farmers' song that told them it was safe to return. After the war, Le Chambon became one of only two places in the world to be honored by Yad Vashem as Righteous Among Nations.

Just why and how Le Chambon and its outlying villages came to save so many people has never fully been told. With unprecedented access to newly opened archives in France, Britain, and Germany, along with interviews documenting the testimony of surviving villagers, Caroline Moorehead paints an inspiring portrait of courage and determination: of what was accomplished when a small group of people banded together to oppose tyranny.

A major contribution to the history of the Second World War, Village of Secrets sets the record straight about the events in Chambon and pays tribute to a group of heroic individuals for whom saving others became more important than their own lives.

©2014 Caroline Moorehead (P)2014 HarperCollins Publishers

Quality research and excellent writing

This is the third book I have read about the WWII history of this remote mountain plateau in France, whose inhabitants saved the lives of many. Moorehead has obviously carefully sifted through conflicting memories of events to bring us a balanced account. Yet her writing never gets tedious.

A very beautiful book

History told through the eyes and feelings of the people that lived it. A lesson that doesn't push to be a lesson. Just a reminder. From the heart to the heart.

Outstanding!

A balanced and fascinating story of the hiding and saving of Jews during the German occupation of France. Moorhead does an excellent job of explaining the contested opinions and histories of the actions of the remote French villages. What a story of triumph over evil and hope in humanity!
Had I read instead of listened to, it may have been easier to keep names/stories of individuals straight.
The narrator was FANTASTIC.

Very interesting!

This is a very good and very interesting book!

I did find myself a little mired in details about specific people in the early chapters, it once though that it progresses well and is very interesting.

Extrodanarily researched with consideration for conflicting memories

I will read this again. I want to study the photos and learn their faces and names by heart. The history of this region during WWII was very slow to surface exactly for the reasons they were so successful at aiding the Jewish children - they are humble and did not seek attention for the many good deeds they carried out. I am looking forward to visiting the area, and seeing the museum that they reluctantly created. They don’t seek tourists crowding their town. But I must honor them by learning their stories well enough to retell them.

Not a very cohesive book

Lately, I've been more interested in World War II so have been looking for a variety of books on the subject. This one looked promising despite some mixed reviews. I try not to read too many reviews ahead of time because I want to form my own opinions.

So here are my opinions. Despite some good and compelling writing, and a lot of details, this book is a bit of a mess. There are so many threads woven in, but most are broken. There are not too many people when you consider all the facts in the book, but Caroline Moorehead would have done better to focus on a few people with the others being small parts. Here almost everyone is a small player.

The other problem with this book is that by the end I had no clue how many people were saved. There are many that don't seem to get saved, but there were so few memorable personages that I never formed a connection to any of them.

I understand that there are 3 other books by Caroline Moorehead about WWII, but I'll probably skip them, even though I've heard at least one of them is much better than this. I'm sad to give a lukewarm review for this book since so much research and work went into it.

The narration was better than the book.

Very informative

I really enjoyed this book and learning all the information it contained. There are some very sad
stories, but also uplifting one .

A Historical Review of a Significant Story

Overall, this historical account of the resistance to the Nazi’s by those living a rural plateau and beyond in Vichy France was very moving to me, in part because it recounts a season and attitudes so similar to what is happening in the United States and other a Western countries today. Weaknesses of the book are the lack of immediate translations of the many French phrases and titles, and the immemorable names of people and places (though this is also its strength in giving voice to many of the “righteous” and the collaborators [or worse] during that time; this weakness is addressed in a list offered in the front of the paper and Kindle versions). If you don’t want to hear “history” but only the story, this may not be a book for you. But it is an important voice about a courageous people who acted humanly in an inhumane world.

Ordinary People Heros

I had never heard this wonderful story and was intrigued right from the start..so many ordinary people risked their lives to help the children, their parents (if they were still alive after being sent to various Concentration camps) so many stepped in to help.

Well researched

Won’t say I enjoyed this. The reality that so many didn’t escape is heart rending. But the deeds of those that did right shouldn’t be forgotten.