Following
on from the excellently received ‘A Packhorse Called Rachel ‘ the new book from
author Marcelle Kellermann is a
wartime thriller, but as with her previous work far from a complete fictional
invention based as it is closely on her own experience .
Set during the occupation of France of 1940 – 44 during which time the author
fought as a member of the resistance. The story follows her interrogation
imprisonment and subsequent unexpected release by the German Nazi Officer Frank
Van Heugen, the official interpreter in the German Kommandatur of Vichy France.
Intrigued when
after the war the same man is awarded the Croix de la Résistance by Général de
Gaulle marcelle Kellermann discovered that ‘The Interpreter’ had been a German
anti-Nazi double agent and decided to write about the life she imagines he must
have led, always in great personal danger, covertly working day and night with
the French resistance movement and the Allies under the watchful eyes of the
Wehrmacht.
A story by turn both tragic and at times darkly humorous, each chapter can be
regarded as a short episode in its own right detailing this remarkable anti -
hero’s life and his struggle for humanity during Europe’s darkest hour.