Divided Loyalties: A Scotswoman in Occupied France (Canongate Classics) - Softcover

Cros, Janet Du Teissier

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0862413753 ISBN 13: 9780862413750

Publisher: Canongate Classics, 2001

Synopsis

Out of the war years comes this memoir of life as a wife and mother in occupied France during World War II. In this candid and poignant account, Janet Teissier du Cros powerfully evokes the international political atmosphere of the time and its effects within her own family. As a Scotswoman married to a Frenchman, du Cros found herself enmeshed in a web of dual loyalties. The innate suspicion bred by old enmity, the attack on the French fleet at Mers-el-Kebir in 1940, the handling of Dunkirk: all meant she faced far more hostility as a Briton than might be expected. Mme. du Cros writes in the main of the trials of existence, both in Southern France, where her husband Francois's family lived, and in Paris, where she joined him after his release from German imprisonment. Witty and poignant accounts of the determined joy of shared Christmases and the increased risk of bearing her third child are set against the dull throb of the progress of war, which bursts into the foreground towards the close with the Allied landings.

About this title

About the Author:

Janet Teissier du Cros (born Grierson) lived in France from the 30s to her death in 1990 and wrote her memoir Divided Loyalties on her experiences during the German occupation.

Review:

One of the vividest pictures of everyday life during the Occupation years that I remember ... An extraordinarily intelligent and attractive book. * * The Guardian * * This is a book to treasure, not only for its obvious and thrilling interest, but for its personal and spiritual value, and the sheer quality of its writing. * * The Scotsman * *

About this edition

• Publisher: Canongate Classics
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0862413753
• ISBN 13: 9780862413750
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 342