This debut novel by Susan MacDonald is set in July 1942 while France is occupied by the Germans.  Set in the South of France, near Nice, where many Jewish refugees start to leave their children with Catholic priests, it follows a twenty-two year old girl as she sets up an orphanage to hide the children in her remote village.

All our group were impressed by the amount of research the author had undertaken to produce this novel, and several wondered if it might have read better as a non-fiction book.

The group had mixed feelings on this novel:

• We felt it was an easy read and the basis of the book and the facts behind it were interesting. For example, Coco Chanel and her home in the South of France during WWII
• We enjoyed the novel being centred around the strong female characters (we especially liked Genevieve the grandmother) but felt that, at times, the action described was unrealistic and the plot jumped on occasions, missing out sections which made it tricky to 'join the dots'.

Highlighted quotes:

• " people make plans then God laughs"
• "of course they will miss their parents ... you must let them cry, it waters the soul"

Group average score for this novel is 6/10.