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Books

Narrative history and fiction exploring France, war, revolution,
and the lived experience behind the record.
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Doctors at War: The Clandestine Battle Against the Nazi Occupation of France

Louisiana State University Press, 2023

During the Nazi occupation of France, medical professionals were forced to navigate a world where every choice carried a risk—for themselves and for the people they were trying to protect. Doctors at War explores the clandestine struggle to care for the sick and wounded under the Occupation, and the ways medicine became entangled with resistance, secrecy, and survival.

 

Through a narrative lens grounded in historical research, the book traces how care could be both a humanitarian act and a form of defiance. It highlights the moral complexity of wartime decisions and the ingenuity required to operate when institutions were compromised and resources were scarce.

 

At its core, Doctors at War is a story about the hidden battle to preserve life—and dignity—in a society under violent pressure.

Nonfiction | World War II | France | Occupation | Resistance

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Les Rochambelles: Ambulancières
de la France combattante 1943–45

Tallandier, 2022

Les Rochambelles raconte l’histoire d’un groupe exceptionnel de femmes qui ont servi comme ambulancières au sein des Forces Françaises libres pendant la Seconde Guerre mondiale. Intégrés dans la 2e Division Blindée du général Leclerc, les Rochambelles opèrent sur le front, elles évacuent les blessés et travaillent dans des mêmes conditions dangereuses que les soldats. C’est une première pour des femmes dans une unité de combat.

 

Basé sur des entretiens avec des Rochambelles survivantes, ce livre met en lumière le parcours des femmes d’une époque traditionnelle qui ont prouvé que courage et bravoure ne sont pas des qualités exclusivement masculines. Leur travail exigeait à la fois des compétences techniques et une résilience extraordinaire.

 

Les Rochambelles est un hommage et une réhabilitation — le témoignage d’un engagement qui mérite d’être rappelé non comme une exception, mais comme ouvrant les portes aux femmes dans les forces armées françaises.

Nonfiction | World War II | Free French Forces | Women’s history

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Women of Valor: The Rochambelles on the WWII Front

McFarland & Co. Publishers, 2021

Women of Valor is the firsthand history of the Rochambelles, an extraordinary group of women ambulance drivers during the Second World War.  Based on interviews with surviving members, the book recounts their experiences serving in a women’s unit operating under combat conditions from Normandy to Berchtesgaden. The women signed up to help free their nation from the Nazi Occupation, and found along the journey the key to their own courage.

The men were skeptical at first, but soon, persuaded by their performance under fire, became their greatest champions (and quite a few postwar husbands!). The women rose above the restraints of their era to face the dire challenges before them, experiences they noted changed them forever.

Women of Valor is a close, human account of courage under pressure, and a reminder that war history is not only made by those who carry weapons, but also by those who carry the wounded home.

Nonfiction | World War II | Oral history | Frontline service

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Playground for Misunderstanding

Kindle Direct Publishing, 2013

Playground for Misunderstanding follows an American exchange student and his girlfriend as they move through contemporary Paris, where personal relationships intersect with political tension and public violence. It is a dark, sharply funny story, tracing how certainty can fracture when events accelerate beyond anyone’s control.

 

Set in a city that is both intimate and volatile, the story explores belonging, identity, and the faultlines of cross-cultural interpretation. It is as much a portrait of modern Paris as it is a study of misreading, miscommunication, and the consequences that arrive when the ground shifts under ordinary life.

Is it today's Paris, or yesterday's? So hard to tell.

Fiction | Contemporary Paris | Social tension | Dark humor

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