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Reviewed by Steve Leshin for Readers' Favorite
In the Shadow of the Pyrenees: The Freedom Trail to Spain by Kathryn Gauci takes place in the early years of the war in the Donezan region in southwestern France. The Nazis begin their conquest of Europe and the quiet life for the rural residents of Mont-Saint-Jean, in the Ariege region bordering the Pyrenees, is about to change for the worse. A local schoolteacher, Armand Joubert, is recruited by Dr. Theo Berdu, a childhood friend, to help him. The good doctor is secretly helping Jews, communists, Allied soldiers, and escapees to flee from the Nazis or at least to hide from certain capture and death by execution on the road or in concentration camps. Gauci introduces us to life for the residents of this region of southern France bordering Spain.
Through her well-crafted characters, some based on real-life heroes, we are drawn in to care for these people. Despite the real and present danger when the Nazi and Vichy collaborators take over the small village where most of the story takes place, we want to know more about what happens to each one. In the Shadow of the Pyrenees by Kathryn Gauci is an extraordinary tale of bravery, love, and sacrifice heightened by the historical backdrop of World War II. Using first-person eyewitness accounts by some major characters to describe key events, the author keeps the reader focused on how extraordinary events affect the actions and motivations of ordinary people. You care about Justine, the daughter of Armand, who risks her life to help the many seeking escape through an arduous and dangerous route through the Pyrenees to avoid Nazi troops. The writing is crisp and clear and keeps the reader engaged. In the Shadow of the Pyrenees is historical fiction at its best.
