Doors to Madame Marie (McLellan Book)
YA.  A lyrical memoir that describes life from early childhood to young womanhood in the years prior to and following World War II in Nazi-occupied France. Born to Jewish parents from Poland who had become working-class Parisians with an intellectual bent, Meyers tells her story with clear, poignant images. Readers meet Madame Marie, the Catholic concierge of her tiny apartment, who emerges as protector, mentor, and godmother. Unforgettable chapters describe Meyers's tender years as one of many children spirited away to the French countryside, pretending to be Catholic for safety's sake. The story concludes as the author returns years later to those same little villages, much changed, to exchange memories with those who provided sanctuary during such troubled years. There is a discernible evolution of focus as the writer takes readers from the egocentric world of her Parisian neighborhood, into the nationalistic world of a young adult, to her eventual emigration to the United States. Meyers's choice of details, her point of view, tone, and even syntax seem to mature as she shares her deeply moving story.?Cynthia J. Rieben, W. T. Woodson High School, Fairfax, VACopyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.