Unabridged Audiobook
As thousands of French Jews began to be deported to Germany in August of 1942, social workers attempted to document exemptions for as many as they could. The Germans decided not to accept exemptions for any adults, so the social workers offered the parents a heartbreaking way to keep their children alive and in France. They must be declared unaccompanied. This required parents to sign away their parental rights with the knowledge that they would probably not ever see them again. A harder decision could not be asked of them, yet they realized it was the only way to keep their children alive. These Jewish children were collectively smuggled away to other families through a joint heroic effort by civilians, clergy, French Resistance and social service organizations. In 1992, a law student, Valérie Portheret, began her doctoral research into the 108 children who disappeared from Vénissieux and escaped deportation. Her research brought her to stowed and forgotten lists of names she began to identify as these same children. She ended up making this her life’s work to pair these names with the survivors they belonged to. This was no easy task. Her heroic efforts are celebrated in this beautiful story based upon true events. The audiobook narrated by Saskia Maarleveld is as exceptional as the story itself. Her accent, inflections and portrayal of characters proves to capture the passion that Mario Escobar pens in his stories and bring it to life. My only misgiving regarding this book is that it contains around five cuss words that, in my opinion, were unnecessary and depicts a closed door scene of an unmarried couple. I received this audiobook from the author/publisher free of charge, with no expectation of a positive review.
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