Priscilla
Subtitle: the hidden life of an Englishwoman in wartime France
By: Nicholas Shakespeare
Publisher: Harvill Secker
Published: 2013
Language: eng
Number of pages: 425
ISBN-13: 9781846554834; 9781448155996; 9781846554841; 9780099555667
Subjects: Englanderin; German Occupation of France (1940-1945) fast (OCoLC)fst01353176; Families; Family; Weltkrieg; Besetzung; World War (1939-1945) fast (OCoLC)fst01180924; Marriage; World War, 1939-1945; History; Women
Description: BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY: HISTORICAL, POLITICAL & MILITARY. 'A most strange and compelling book driven by the writer's unsparing search for truth: now an optimistic hunt for a family heroine, now a study in female wiles of survival, now a portrait of one very ordinary person's frailty in the face of terrible odds.' John le Carr When Nicholas Shakespeare accidentally stumbled across a box documents belonging to his late aunt he was completely unaware of where this discovery would take him. The Priscilla he remembered was very different from the glamorous, morally ambiguous young woman who emerged from the many love letters and journals, surrounded by suitors and living the dangerous existence of a British woman in a country controlled by the enemy. He had heard rumours that Priscilla had fought in the Resistance, but the truth turned out to be far more complicated.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references.
Table of contents: title: Part one. (1. The interrogation:1943 ; 2. Church farm: 1957-66 ; 3. The alligator handbag: 1950 ; 4. Truck driver ; 5. The padded chest).; title: Part two. (6. Strange existence ; 7. Gillian ; 8. SPB ; 9. Married alive: 1936 ; 10. Meeting Robert: 1937 ; 11. The abortionist ; 12. Boisgrimot ; 13. Letter from an unknown man ; 14. Vertes ; 15. War of nerves ; 16. French Resistance).; title: Part three. (17. Besancʹon); title: Part four. (18. London: October 1944 ; 19. Brazen lies ; 20. Paris: February 1941 ; 21. Daniel Vernier ; 22. Emile Cornet ; 24. Resortissante Britannique ; 25. 'Simone Vernier' ; 26. Kessel ; 27. 'Otto' ; 28. The missing box ; 29. Graebener ; 30. Pierre ; 31. Chanson d'automne ; 32. Tondue).; title: Part five. (33. Living with anybody ; 34. Life as a mushroom farmer's wife ; 35. Too much gin ; 36. A sympathetic priest ; 37. Detonations from the past ; 38. The end ; 39. An unsent letter).