World War II from the perspective of a Belgium family. It's based on the diary of one of the girls. The story starts as Germany is invading Belgium and details like in occupied Belgium throughout the war. Some people try to get by, some people resist, some collaborate. It's interesting to look at the war from yet another perspective than American or British.

The Wolves of La Louvière was quite difficult to read knowing the facts about what was happening across Europe in 1940. Seeing everything through the eyes of a teen's journal was a bit like a visual version of Anne' Frank's Diary although it was far less graphic than that but no less heartbreaking.

It's a shame be so difficult to find this story to purchase online (not available on google play or amazon), because the themes are interesting to read!

I enjoyed the style of writing, format, and flow of the story. The graphics are well done and easy to look at, but I felt a slight disconnect from the story and characters.

The thing about WWII narratives is that there are so many, they can grow old. However, every once in a while the reader will stumble upon a true gem and it will rekindle their curiosity for this subgenre of historical fiction. To my delight, this was not a fictional narrative, but a true account based on Balthazar's family members and their experience.

"The Wolves of La Louviere" is a slightly interesting story. It's not really my cup of tea but I enjoyed the illustration.

"Belgium, 1940. The German army is spreading across Europe, and tiny Belgium is conquered in 18 days. During the four long years of the Nazi occupation, the women of La Louvière have to figure out some way to stay alive, to live their lives, and to keep up hope. Their world is drawn through teenage Marcelle's journal: What does she do? How do her family members endure? Which women in town collaborate with the occupying forces, and which women choose to fight? As always in wartime, the women take over for the absent men and keep their world spinning"
The story is about a family living in Belgium during the second World War. and the trials and tribulations they endure to survive. Hits a lot of marks on really hard topics. The artwork was amazing. I wish i could have a print of Marcelle (the main character) above my desk.

Great read!

The Wolves of La Louvière is a graphic novel based on a true story happened in World War II. We have two storylines on the book: one of the Balthazar family, based on Marcelle's diary (one of the daughters), who shows us the lives of the common people during war, and the storyline of Marguerite, a teacher from one of the younger Balthazar children, who in public says that people have to be polite to the German but that in private is a rebel and a spy.

What I liked the most about this book was the fact that we can read what happens in a place that is invaded and bombed and how the people can still live their lives despite that. They go to school and they go to work. And the fact that woman go to work was one of the first things that will direct us to one relevant debate in this book: gender equality. Women work during war time, because men are called to fight the enemy, but when war is over they return to their homes and woman return to do house work, woman don't have the right to vote, don't have the right to go to the school they want (even if they have great schoolarships such as Marcelle), they can't travel to other country's without being married and with the permition of their husband etc etc.

About Marguerite storyline I loved how she showed that cruelty isn't a German caractheristic and that other countries and other soldiers are equaly desumain such as the occupiers.

I am not an expert in analysing the art of graphic novels but I loved how the ilustration was so suitable to the theme and had some harsh traces, and not so bright collors, reflecting this period of time has dark and full of fear.

In short, this story shows us all the struggle that was behind World War II, and showed us that war was not only fought on the battlefield, it was also inside homes and people, especially when there were small acts of rebellion.

This is a story that shows us a powerful perspective about World War II like I've never seen it.

Loved the historical context and the idea. However, I found it lacking, possibly because I found the characters difficult to keep track of.

While I've long been interested in reading more graphic novels, I haven't found any that appealed (outside of The Walking Dead, which I really enjoy), until now. Historical fiction in this format really works for me. And calling it historical fiction is a bit of a stretch because the story is based on a real family, and much of what takes place actually happened. However, because names were changed and some adjustments made, historical fiction it is.

The illustrations, which are critical in a format that is defined by them, are great. Warm, neutral, natural colors combined with realistic lines gives an appropriate sense of realism to the story. Because the subject matter is rather heavy, it feels important that seriousness be honored graphically, while also instilling a sense of hope. Job well done.

As someone who loves history, and this period in general, I typically find history books to be dry and swamped with military minutiae that makes my eyelids feel heavy. The graphic novel format seems like a fabulous way to talk about critical historical moments, in a memorable and widely accessible way. Definitely hope to see more like this in the future (and to find what already exists!).

The Wolves of La Louvière seemed very interesting, since we do need more war comics that aren't really about the fighting and instead about the humane side, the loss and all. This comic is also about girls and them fighting the oppression in Belgium. Some of the women work more, some attend resistance forces and some do what they do the best, keep their families safe. I like this approach and how we have these different people all just trying to survive and do their best. The info pages at the back were a great add-on to the comic and mostly The Wolves of La Louvière is very understandable in many ways. This also brings us to the problem, since nothing really happens in the comic and it's quite boring in a sense. There are many voices, but we don't get to see and feel them fully, just glimpses here and there. Somehow the comic isn't even about the war, since we don't really see it or even feel and mostly it's just talking about mundane things. This bothers me, since the core has more in it, but Balthazar cannot really blow life into the comic. The focus is out of reach and everything just floats. The whole wolves thing is thin too and not explained.

The art works well with the story line, since the crude and realistic approach works well with the war time imagery. The colors are beautifully faded and sad even, which brings melancholia to the comic and enriches it. Instead of just talking, I wish there had been more action and facial expressions, since the wooden talking heads give hardly anything to the story. The Wolves of La Louvière isn't a bad comic, but interesting with a refreshing idea. It's just not enough to pull this trough, but still.

I did really enjoy this story, but I honestly thought it would be more about the resistance rather than a family from the town. Still, it was a good story to read, and I loved the artwork as well!

Partially completed -- I'm afraid I lost interest, but I believe that if I wasn't so bogged down with other time constraints I would have completed it. The artwork is lovely, and it does seem a worthwhile read -- will likely come back to it!

At times hard to comprehend, this journal in graphic novel format recounts the stories of Marcelle Balthazar’s family, and Marguerite Bevoets fight during the Belgium occupation of WW2. Because it is journal format, days, sometimes weeks or years are skipped in the story. It give you insight into what it was like to have a large family struggle in times of war. Education was scarce, food was scarce, but family was plenty. Blended in to this story is that of Margurite whose time as a newspaper person was seem to some as a spy and to others as a hero. Overall I liked the story, and realize it is in journal format. But I wish for the graphic novel medium the holes in the stories would have been filed in.

Europe Comics has carved out an interesting niche by releasing French and Belgian comics in ebook format to make them more available and affordable, and The Wolves of La Louviere is one of the companies finest achievements. Written and drawn by Belgian cartoonist Flore Balthazar, The Wolves of La Louviere mixes history and fictionalized biography with snippets of fairy tale narrative like something out of the Grimm Brothers adding a mythical context to the very specific events of World War II, as well as formalizing the book’s hybrid existence of fact and fiction coexisting.

Portraying lives from 1940 to 1944, and then beyond, in a Belgian village, Balthazar captures the slow pace of the situation well. We often think of Europe at the time as all battlefronts, but it was also a collection of occupied rural lands where residents were expected to continue living their lives in some respect despite a Nazi presence in their lives. Balthazar does well to examine how people approach this problem and she does it in realistic, sympathetic terms since it’s very easy to judge when you’re looking so far backward.

The story mainly concerns itself with Marcelle Balthazar, the oldest daughter in a family with five children. Marcelle is completing school and preparing for college. Intelligent and hoping for something more out of life, the war and occupation cause her general distress and worry, but she works to keep it from obstructing her from the goals that existed before the war and if she survives it, will exist afterward.

Marcelle has a keen eye for what is going on around her, and she sees the ease with which some residents collaborate, while at the same time recognizes the Nazis as humans that she has to maintain enmity toward even as she looks at the reality of their existence. In this way, Balthazar captures the situation with a compassionate eye and seems to be asking directly what any reader would do in the same situation. Do you outwardly battle the enemy? Do you acquiesce? Do you embrace the enemy? Or do you finagle some form of subversion that can go undetected?

That last strategy is the one local school teacher, Marguerite Caluwaerts, opts for. To her students and in public, she cautions against agitating against the Nazis and even advocates treating them well. Behind the scenes, she is passing information as part of a resistance movement and helping combatants trapped behind enemy lines escape possible captivity. That character is based on an actual Belgian woman named Marguerite Bervoets, a member of the Belgian resistance group Five Bells, who was eventually captured and executed by the Germans.

Balthazar juxtaposes these two women’s stories as different ways of getting through the conflict and places no judgment on either. The Balthazar family itself seems to be directly based on the creator’s actual ancestors, and Marcelle seems to be the creator’s grandmother — I’ll admit that I’m guessing about that since I haven’t noticed any confirmation — and the book is built around her diaries.

Balthazar’s art style is that classic form of French/Belgian comics style that evokes Herge and creates a reality that exudes a kind of nostalgia and charm, with some soft realism, typically aimed at kids. It’s a style that works incredibly well for the subject matter, nestling the events depicted well within the time they took place and portraying the slowness of those events. The true jolts of the experience don’t come until the end of the war, and Balthazar portrays that very well, with the characters and settings that were previously charming being forced to face up the destruction of the predicament that they had previously only encountered one tiny aspect of.

The book finishes with a historical essay by a Belgian historian that covers the facts behind Balthazar’s presentation, with plenty of excellent photos of the Balthazar family, Marguerite Bervoets, and their village. It also shows that the dilemmas faced by the characters in the book — decisions about what kind of lives they were going to live in such dark times — were real dilemmas that any of us can and do face, and it speaks to the idea that we may never know what our actions mean in the context of history until its too late.

I received a copy of this book via NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

The Wolves of La Louvière tells the story of German occupation in Belgium.
First about the art: I have to admit, I didn't care much for it, it was done in a rather simple style, but somehow it also fitted the storyline and the muted colors felt appropriate for a time where you couldn't live to the fullest, but had to keep your head down in order to survive. Still, I would have liked reading it better if the artstyle would have been more advanced.

Most of the story was told in the way of diary writing, but I would have wished for better storytelling. The scenes showed different aspects of occupation life, but it was all over the place and I wished for more in-depth-exploration of certain topics or just a dominant theme that would bind it all together. For example, there is the issue of faith and war, but it's only mentioned a few times and then left unresolved. Or the issue of the moral of resistance fighters...I would have loved some more thoughts and reflection on these topics. The way it was handled, you felt torn into all directions - here a thought, there a thought, but nothing substantial, nothing worth while.

What I really liked, was that the author didn't make it gory at all and the idea of portraying all war-making countries as wolves.

If you are interested in second world war and how people lived in wartime, I would definitely recommend this graphic novel to you, because you can certainly learn about some interesting facts.

This historical graphic novel of the Nazi occupation of Belgium is very much based on the author's own family history. It's a story of survival and resistance, of trying to find normalcy in times of great hardship and violence. I did enjoy this, and appreciated the view of normal people trying to survive during a war, trying to cobble together some semblance of normal.

The story does lose a star because I had some trouble differentiating the characters. Many of them looked very similar.

** I received a complimentary copy of this book through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. **

March 24, 1944.

Time is a relative notion: minutes can feel like centuries when you’re being bombed. Space is also relative: there’s 18 kilometers between Nivelles and La Louviere. In wartime, it took 24 hours for the news to reach me.

Some books are there to hold a position near your heart and remind you of it with every beating of your heart. The wolves of La Louviere is exactly that kind of book. I grab anything that is related with the Second World War. The cover attracted me so and I requested for the protected file and I am very much thankful to netgalley and European Comics to let me have this wonderful read.

Belgium is conquered in only 18 days in 1940 by Germany during WWII and this book contains the story of people, specially the women’s survival in that 4 years of Nazi occupation. The young lady Marcelle’s journal showed the days and struggle. The most amazing part is Marcelle held other’s story as well as well as their choices and at the end of this book the readers discover that the struggle is not any fiction. You heard right. This book is a portrayal of true events.



The illustrations are very vivid yet simple. They perfectly captured the struggles of the families, the parting of the members, the children’s mischief, the sorrow, the destruction of the war.





The book shows different time periods of the war yet connect them meaningfully. Not all people take part in war, some became a part of war through their daily chores. Balthazer Family from this book portrays that by attending school and work. Women fill in the gaps which men left behind joining the war showed the power and equality of genders.



This book teaches us how protest can be done through small act. I love how the writer questioned if the captives were no better than their captors when it came to their treatment of the ‘enemy’. I love the Tintin reference which makes the book so believable.



This is an impactful read. Though I think there are some contents which are really unnecessary and not relatable with the main plot. Those make the book a bit slow even. Still for a song of dream, the book plays a fair role to give us rays of hope.

“Long live the wind!
Long live the sun!
Long live life!”

Ratings: ★★★★☆

A charmingly illustrated graphic novel, about a Belgian family during WW2, particularly from the teenage girl Marcelle who keeps a journal. It is based on a true story (that of the author's family) and deals with the German occupation of that time and how the locals tried to continue their everyday lives despite that. The wolves of the title are of course the Nazis.
The illustrations are lovely, with a muted palette of colours that fits the period perfectly. The story is strictly for adults though, as there are scenes of sex, abortion, and execution. While it's not a straightforward linear story, more of a collection of scenes from life as the war took effect, it is nevertheless a compelling read. The book ends with an actual account of what happened, accompanied by photographs of the author's family from that time.
Thanks to the publisher for a review copy.

The Wolves of La Louviére

I haven’t read any graphic novels before, or any that I can remember, but recently I’ve really started to give them a go. Before committing to buying one, I headed to NetGalley to see what I could find, almost like a trial run. That way, if it wasn’t for me, I hadn’t lost much.

Turns out, I really like graphic novels!

This book is so beautifully illustrated and the story is incredible. It’s a lot heavier than I imagined I’d read for my first one, but I was instantly enthralled in the story and the characters. It took me a little while to remember who all the characters were and to generally get used to reading a graphic novel (I’m such a novice that sometimes I was even getting confused which order to read the panels...) but that’s nothing on the book, but rather the fact that I’m not used to reading them!

I really liked this book and it’s confirmed to me that I should start reading more graphic novels. So that’s exactly what I’m going to do!