Village of Scoundrels , livre ebook

ABRAMS BOOKS - Preus Margi Preus

Découvre YouScribe en t'inscrivant gratuitement

Je m'inscris

Obtenez un accès à la bibliothèque pour le consulter en ligne
En savoir plus

148 pages

English

Vous pourrez modifier la taille du texte de cet ouvrage

Obtenez un accès à la bibliothèque pour le consulter en ligne
En savoir plus

A propos
Informations
Extrait

Description

Newbery Honor recipient Margi Preus tells the incredible true story of a group of French teenagers who helped save refugees in WWII Based on the true story of the French villagers in WWII who saved thousands of Jews, this novel tells how a group of young teenagers stood up for what is right. Among them is a young Jewish boy who learns to forge documents to save his mother and later goes on to save hundreds of lives with his forgery skills. There is also a girl who overcomes her fear to carry messages for the Resistance. And a boy who smuggles people into Switzerland. But there is always the threat that they will be caught: A policeman is sent to keep an eye on them, German soldiers reside in a local hotel, and eventually the Gestapo arrives, armed with guns and a list of names. As the knot tightens, the young people must race against time to bring their friends to safety.

Informations

Publié par	ABRAMS BOOKS
Date de parution	25 février 2020
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781613125076
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	3 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0918€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

PUBLISHER S NOTE: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author s imagination or used fictitiously.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Preus, Margi, author.
Title: Village of scoundrels: a novel based on a true story of courage during WWII / Margi Preus.
Description: New York: Amulet Books, [2019] | Includes bibliographical references and index. | Summary: In the 1940s, remote Les Lauzes, France, houses Jews, unregistered foreigners, forgers, and others who take great risks to shelter refugees and smuggle them to safety in Switzerland. Identifiers: LCCN 2018058722 | ISBN 9781419708978 (alk. paper) | eISBN 978-1-61312-507-6 Subjects: LCSH: World War, 1939-1945-Underground movements-France-Fiction. | CYAC: World War, 1939-1945-Underground movements-France-Fiction. | Refugees-Fiction. | Jews-France-Fiction. | World War, 1939-1945-France-Fiction. | France-History-German occupation, 1940-1945-Fiction.
Classification: LCC PZ7.P92434 Vil 2019 | DDC [Fic]-dc23
Text copyright 2020 Margi Preus
Illustrations copyright 2020 S. M. Vidaurri
Edited by Howard W. Reeves
Book design by Hana Anouk Nakamura
Title type design by Kay Petronio
Published in 2020 by Amulet Books, an imprint of ABRAMS. All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, mechanical, electronic, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher.
Amulet Books are available at special discounts when purchased in quantity for premiums and promotions as well as fundraising or educational use. Special editions can also be created to specification. For details, contact specialsales@abramsbooks.com or the address below.
Amulet Books is a registered trademark of Harry N. Abrams, Inc.
ABRAMS The Art of Books 195 Broadway, New York, NY 10007 abramsbooks.com
THIS IS A FICTIONAL STORY INSPIRED BY REAL EVENTS AND THE EXPERIENCES OF REAL PEOPLE WHO LIVED OR WERE SHELTERED IN A CLUSTER OF VILLAGES IN SOUTH-CENTRAL FRANCE DURING WORLD WAR II .

THE OPPOSITE OF GOOD IS NOT EVIL; THE OPPOSITE OF GOOD IS INDIFFERENCE. IN A FREE SOCIETY WHERE TERRIBLE WRONGS EXIST, SOME ARE GUILTY, BUT ALL ARE RESPONSIBLE. -RABBI ABRAHAM JOSHUA HESCHEL
CAST OF MAJOR CHARACTERS
A
Pastor Autin (oh-tanh)-one of the Protestant pastors in Les Lauzes
B
Monsieur Boulet (monh-syeur boo-lay)-director and houseparent of the Beehive
C
C leste (say-lest)-high school student originally from Paris who becomes a courier for the resistance
Claude; Clo-clo (clode; clo-clo)-Jules s friend who helps paint the roadway
Madame Cr neau (mah-dahm cray-no)-organizer of the network that finds safe places for refugees on the plateau and smuggles children and others to Switzerland
D
Madame Desault (mah-dahm day-zo)-rescues children from the camps and brings them to Les Lauzes by train
F
Jean-Paul Filon (zhonh-pole fee-lonh)-Jewish teen who seeks shelter in Les Lauzes and becomes a master forger. He is also known as Otto and Jean-Paul Lafour.
H
Henni-a German Jewish teen released from Gurs internment camp to Les Lauzes, Max s girlfriend
J
Jules (zhul)-ten- or eleven-year-old goatherd who passes messages, creates diversions, and delivers forged papers for
Jean-Paul Filon. Also known as La Crapule (lah crah-pul)-The Scoundrel.
L
L on (lay-onh)-brother of Sylvie; teen resident of Sunnyside who joins the resistance
Louis XIV (loo-ee kah-torz)-King of France, 1643-1715. Devoutly Catholic, he abolished the rights of the Huguenot Protestants, and encouraged his dragoons (soldiers) to persecute them until they emigrated or converted.
M
Madeleine (mah-deu-lehn)-Henni s friend, Jewish teen living at The Beehive
Max-Henni s German Jewish boyfriend, whom she met in Gurs, a concentration camp, primarily used for internment
Monsieur and Madame Mousset; M. and Mme Mousset (monhsyeur and mah-dahm moo-say)-a farm couple who offers a space to Jean-Paul Filon where he can both live and run his forgery operation.
P
Officer Perdant (per-danh)-plainclothes French police inspector sent to keep an eye on the townspeople of Les Lauzes
Marshal P tain (pay-tan)-head of the collaborationist Vichy government in southern France after Germany occupied northern France. When Germany occupied southern France in 1942, he became a puppet of the German military adminstration.
Philippe (fee-leep)-high school student from Normandy who hides refugees and smuggles people to Switzerland
S
Sylvie (seel-vee)-L on s sister, high school student and forger
PRONUNCIATION GUIDE
Pronunciation notes:
zh = the sound g makes at the end of garage
eu = the sound in the middle of should
onh = the beginning sound in on before you say the n
ah = the beginning sound in all
kh = the sound an angry cat makes
PLACE NAMES
A
Alsace-ahl-zahs
Annecy-ahn-see
B
Bastille (historic French prison)-bahs-tee
C
C vennes-say-ven
Ch teau de Roque-shah-toe deu rock
Chemin du Dragon-sheu-manh du drah-gonh
Clermont-Ferrand-clehr-monh feh-ranh
Collonges-sous-Sal ve-co-lonzh soo sah-lehv
D
Duni res-du-nyair
L
Le Chambon-leu sham-bonh
Le Puy-leu pwee
Les Lauzes-lay lowz
Lyon-lee-onh
M
Marseille-mar-say
N
Nice-nees
R
Rivesalte-reeve-salt
S
Saint- tienne-san-teh-tyenn
T
Triangle de la Burle-tree-angleu deu lah burl
V
Vichy-vee-shee
1. EARLY MAY 1943 LES LAUZES, FRANCE
V FOR VICTORY
Jules carried the brushes. Claude, because he was bigger, lugged the can of paint. The two boys kept to the far side of the trees lining the road, trying to stay out of sight.
German soldiers walk along here sometimes, Claude whispered.
Jules swept his gaze up and down the road and to each side. Well, they aren t here now, he said. A faint jangle of bells caught his attention, and he turned to see a herd of goats coming out of the forest onto the road behind them.
Jules tapped Claude on the shoulder and jabbed his thumb in the direction of the road. Here, he said, and the boys crept from behind the trees onto the roadway.
What about them? Claude pointed at the animals clip-clopping along the pavement. And the old lady? A woman in a long skirt hobbled behind the goats, urging them along with a stick.
Don t worry about any of that, Jules said. Now, you paint 1918.
Doesn t eighteen go before nineteen? Claude asked.
Yes, usually, but this time paint 19 , then an 18 -that s all-because it s the year.
But it isn t! It s 1943!
Yes, I know that, but . . . Never mind. I ll paint 1918. You do the V for Victory .
Claude bobbed his head happily and put brush to pavement, ignoring the goats that clattered past. But when the goatherd passed by, he looked up and whispered, Why does that lady have a suitcase strapped to her back? Oh, is that the Ameri-
Shh! Jules hushed his friend. Make that V bigger. It s too little.
Once the goats were past, all that could be heard was the scrape of the brushes on the pavement and the boys earnest breathing, a little from the exertion of the hike and from bending over to paint. And that other thing: fear of getting caught.
Jules was just putting the finishing touches on his work when he heard shouts.
Achtung! Then, Gar ons! Arretez! -Boys! Stop!
Jules leaped up and tugged at Claude s sleeve. Vite! Vite! he cried, then dashed away.
He could hear Claude clomping along behind him, and behind Claude the clanging of metal-heeled boots on the roadway. Only German soldiers had boots that sounded like that, Jules knew. He glanced over his shoulder to see a couple of soldiers chasing them-still far enough away that Jules wasn t worried about getting caught. The boys only had to duck into the forest that lined the road and take any one of a number of paths and they d lose the soldiers in no time. He glanced back again-now Claude was loping in the wrong direction-back toward the soldiers.
Claude! Jules shouted.
The paint! Claude yelled over his shoulder.
The goats skittered sideways as the soldiers ran past them.
Leave it! Jules hollered.
There was no way Claude could retrieve the paint and get away before the soldiers reached him.
Jules clutched his head in his hands. There was the woods, right there-full of paths leading in all directions. But there was Claude, about to fall into the hands of the Germans, the Germans who would turn him over to that policeman, Inspector Perdant.
Jules let his arms fall to his sides and ran back toward his friend.
2. EARLY DECEMBER 1942
INSPECTOR PERDANT ARRIVES
Five months earlier, in December 1942, plainclothes inspector Perdant had arrived in the village of Les Lauzes.
The village, situated on a high plateau, was accessible from the valley only by a single winding road or a comically small train. Ever since France s surrender to Nazi Germany in 1940, the place had been living in its own little way, outside the rules of the current government. It had taken a while for that to be noticed. But now it had.
By the time Perdant arrived, winter had settled in, and the streets were snow-covered and slippery. Since the village was built on the side of a steep hill, this could make for treacherous going.
He was mincing his way to the caf across from his hotel when a loud, sustained shriek made him stop in the middle of the street. Someone in danger? Distress? Perhaps his brand-new job as the sole police officer was about to begin with something truly dramatic. He turned his head-all his senses alert. Maybe one of the illegals said to be hiding here was trying to murder someone! If he could just pinpoint where the scream was coming from, he would dash to the rescue.
The high, keening Eeeeeee transformed to a squeal of Aaaahhhhh, and . . . did he detect an element of glee in that scream?
The sound grew closer and clearer-like a train engine echoing between stone walls, now muffled, now screaming, now rounding a corner, gathering speed.