Village of Secrets: Defying the Nazis in Vichy France

From the author of the New York Times bestseller A Train in Winter comes the absorbing story of a French village that helped save thousands hunted by the Gestapo during World War II—told in full for the first time.

Le Chambon-sur-Lignon is a small village of scattered houses high in the mountains of the Ardèche, one of the most remote and inaccessible parts of Eastern France. During the Second World War, the inhabitants of this tiny mountain village and its parishes saved thousands wanted by the Gestapo: resisters, freemasons, communists, OSS and SOE agents, and Jews. Many of those they protected were orphaned children and babies whose parents had been deported to concentration camps.

With unprecedented access to newly opened archives in France, Britain, and Germany, and interviews with some of the villagers from the period who are still alive, Caroline Moorehead paints an inspiring portrait of courage and determination: of what was accomplished when a small group of people banded together to oppose their Nazi occupiers. A thrilling and atmospheric tale of silence and complicity, Village of Secrets reveals how every one of the inhabitants of Chambon remained silent in a country infamous for collaboration. Yet it is also a story about mythmaking, and the fallibility of memory.

A major contribution to WWII history, illustrated with black-and-white photos, Village of Secrets sets the record straight about the events in Chambon, and pays tribute to a group of heroic individuals, most of them women, for whom saving others became more important than their own lives.

Village of Secrets uncovers the intricate web of conspiracy and compassion that made the impossible happen:

• A Community of Conscience: Discover how the entire village of Le Chambon—pastors, doctors, farmers, and teachers—banded together in an incredible act of the French Resistance, maintaining a conspiracy of silence to save thousands.
• Huguenot Heritage: Understand the deep historical roots of defiance in a region shaped by centuries of persecution, and how the memory of being a hunted minority fueled their resolve to protect others.
• The Myth and the Memory: Go beyond the legend to explore the fallibility of memory, as Moorehead uses newly-opened archives to separate celebrated myth from the more complex, and often more heroic, reality.
• The Women of the Resistance: Meet the courageous women who formed the backbone of the rescue efforts, organizing networks, hiding children, and making life-or-death decisions when saving others was more important than their own lives.