Guiding Allied Planes into Moonlit Meadows - an Editorial Review of "The Girl from Provence"

Book Blurb:

‘Heartbreaking… Will remain in my heart for a very long time. I loved everything about this… Do not let another day go by without reading this… Phenomenal. Definitely worth ten stars… Unputdownable’ Page Turners, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Southern France, 1942. Twenty-one-year-old Lilou could be any other farmer’s daughter at the village market, selling honey and lavender even as Nazi soldiers line the cobbled streets. But by night, she fights back by guiding Allied pilots to safety in remote moonlit meadows. And one day the Resistance network ask her to hide a little Jewish boy – Eliot. Discovery would mean certain death…

The second Lilou sees his deep brown eyes she vows to protect him. Eliot is only seven years old and barely speaks, but clutches a copy of The Little Prince:a beautiful book of stars, far away worlds – and hope. The story is the only thing that comforts little Eliot in the darkest days. As Lilou shelters him in a secret room in her farmhouse and the unlikely pair grow close, she realises that The Little Prince is more than just a storybook.

Book Buy Link: https://geni.us/4kmZj8

Author Bio:

Best-selling author of The Emerald Twins, The Girl From Provence, The French House and The Painter's Girl. I love delving into the past to uncover new stories, and in my writing, the tiniest historical detail can spark an idea for a whole chapter. My female characters rail against the social constraints of their time, and often achieve great success, but they are of course flawed and human, like the rest of us. It’s the motivations, flaws, loves and every-day lives of my characters that I love to bring life, against sweeping historical backdrops - and I will find any excuse to take off and research a captivating location or person for my next story.

I spent a lot of time in France as a child, have lived in Paris, and spent a year with my family in a fishing village in South West France, so that’s where my books have ended up being set so far. Who knows where next!

Editorial Review: “The Girl from Provence”

Author: Helen Fripp

“It was All Saints’ Day, a festive, bright and cold November morning, sharp-focused and crisp. The dense oak forests that clung to the hills and valleys had dropped a crackling carpet of fiery leaves, and a feast of acorns and chestnuts for the wild boar. Jays flashed iridescent blue and autumn blush amongst the trees, and sunrise blazed on the mountains. Her beautiful Provence, with its soaring peaks, vineyards, fragrant fields, mild air, and the sea that spread out like a glittering silk ball gown. The land, the mellow stone, the fountains and the people, so full of fun and grit, were in her soul. For some reason, today it all seemed extra precious, as though the breeze that caught her hair was bringing with it a change to everything she held dear.”

All Saints’ Day. Well, that reference was unexpected. With a jolt, this reviewer was transported back to her own European heritage and difficult World War Two family legacies. Be warned – “The Girl from Provence” by Helen Fripp will have that effect on readers, with its haunting, evocative storyline and the author’s talent for descriptive writing. Whether it is the characterization, the timeframe, or the rawness of the plot, readers will not escape the power of this story easily.

There are many threads to this tale, and a myriad of characters who are all connected but who all have their own story to tell. The standouts for this reviewer were Lilou, the resistance fighter who is spurred on by the memory of loss, and Marie-Madeleine, who must take fearful risks to survive. But that is not to take away from the other characters that swirl around these women in a captivating game of cat and mouse, where no-one is who they seem and fear pervades everything – and everyone.

The novel commences in 1942 (of course, in Provence, France), and follows the fortunes of villagers who must contend with the arrival of the Nazis. Their experiences are diverse, but uniformly terrifying. There is no sugar-coating this era, and some readers may find the unflinching references to violence and loss quite confronting. Others will recognize that to write pretty sentences and gloss over reality is a disservice to the suffering of that generation, so many of whom took unimaginable risks and bore unimaginable losses.

“She squeezed between the board and the bars and studied the mason’s gap, the bar of freedom. Thank God she’d lived on Gauloises and black coffee for as long as she could remember. Her head would be the worst, and getting purchase for the thrust out was almost impossible. She shimmied herself into position, the rough board tearing her back, and tested her head on the bars. The iron was uncompromising. Was it narrower than the width of her head? It would take a superhuman push but, if she could bear the pain, the rest of her body would follow. Wrenching her body into as good a position as she could, her hair and skin slick with olive oil and the sweat of terror, she closed her eyes, and pushed with all her might. Her head was through! A headlight swept metres away. She was pinned like an insect. She twisted her head back through, felt an ear tear, blood pouring. The pain was excruciating. Claustrophobia stole her breath till she was gasping, and her heart thumped like a funeral drum.”

Fripp’s plot is historically accurate, with some references to real people that readers will recognize. The depth of the research she has undertaken is obvious, but this story is primarily a human drama, as individuals battle against a world gone mad. In many novels set in this era, good and bad are defined and easy to spot. Like life, though, Fripp’s characterizations do occasionally include shades of grey in their behavior, and this ambiguity is welcome.

“In the larder there were still jars of cassoulet – unimaginable luxury – pickled vegetables, pulses and Freddie’s attempt at home-made wine. Combined with pickings from the over‐ grown vegetable patch, she’d have plenty to live on for nine days until her final mission with Eliot. Strange that, a year later, here she was in the place where she’d first encountered him. She was alone here, but never lonely. She knew every rock, the meadows and pastures that surrounded the hut, the family of jays who owned the oak thicket, the boars who vied with her for the vegetable patch, the church bells that rang the hour in the distance from the medieval hilltop village. The last time she’d heard that bell ring was for Monsieur Pascal, the old man they’d shot for answering back at the fête de transhumance. It was hard to see where all this would end, easy to hate.”

“The Girl from Provence” by Helen Fripp is an utterly gripping read. This novel has it all – historical accuracy, human drama, and complex characters. The author’s descriptive language puts the reader firmly in Provence and wartime Europe, merging the turmoil of the world with the beauty of the landscape and the seasons. Through all of this, it is the characters that shine as they disclose their individual motivations and secrets. A story that will leave no reader untouched.

*****

“The Girl from Provence” by Helen Fripp receives 5 stars from The Historical Fiction Company and the “Highly Recommended” award of excellence

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