Prolific author
Prose has written a complex and stirring historical novel based on real events
and people. She weaves together six narrative strands to make a complete
picture of not just the main subject of the story- Lou Villars, athlete, auto
racer, mechanic, lesbian, Gestapo spy and informant- but of the people, rich
and poor, around her and Paris itself just prior to the German occupation and
during it. The characters and the city come alive in her tale of a French
patriot- maltreated by her own country and seduced by false promises from
Hitler- who, by leaking the location of the end of the Maginot line, quite
possibly, single handedly, made the occupation of France possible.
Lou Villars is
based on Violette Morris, who did all the things that Lou does in the story,
including having an elective double mastectomy that made it easier for her to
steer a race car. She lived openly as
gay and dressed in male clothing. She could have gone down in history as a
great athlete instead of as the torturing monster she became. Why did someone
who claimed to love France betray her country? Prose has come up
with a pretty convincing possibility. Many of the other characters, artists and
writers, are based on real people as well.
The story is
not just a fictionalized biography, though. The scope is wide and includes
love, art, courage, and how the truth is seen from different perspectives. The
writing is excellent and, despite the grim subjects, very engaging. I stayed up
late trying to finish it and got up again in the middle of the night because I
couldn’t sleep without knowing how it would end. It was worth being sleepy today.
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