The Spiral Shell
A French Village Reveals Its Secrets of Jewish Resistance in World War II.
by Sandell Morse
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Pub Date Apr 14 2020 | Archive Date Jun 15 2022
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Description
In this haunting memoir that reflects on the Holocaust and its legacy, award-winning author Sandell Morse discovers stories of bravery and resistance enacted during WWII in southern France. In the course of six years at a writing residency in
France, during which she met with survivors and historians, she painstakingly pieces together the puzzle that had been beguiling her over the years: what was the real story of the French Jews under the Vichy government during
The Second World War?
Driven by her dogged curiosity and determination to uncover the truth, and with a fossilized shell she’d found in the wall of the Jewish quarter in Paris as a talisman, she seeks deeper meaning and understanding of her own Jewish heritage.
By gradually gaining the trust of those she interviewed, Sandell reconstructs incidents of the civilians' extraordinary courage in resisting the Vichy regime and Nazi occupation.
From the survivors’ harrowing tales of escape, ingenious subterfuge, and just plain luck, she learns of a nunnery that was a safe-house for refugees; a rabbi who gave his life to save hundreds of Jewish children; the local gendarme who, endangering his own life, tipped the Resistance off to the upcoming Nazi roundups.
In this year that marks the 80th anniversary of the deportation of thousands of French Jews to Auschwitz, this memoir reflects on a crucial time in our world’s history that still reverberates today, and provides a moving tribute to those who resisted oppression and fascism.
Advance Praise
"The Spiral Shell is an evocative, probing, heartfelt memoir, as rich in character and detail as the best fiction. injunction There are all kinds of reckonings here: personal, historical, spiritual. There is a vivid present as well as a vividly imagined past, a voice that is at turns charming, grieving, outraged and wry. Sandell Morse illuminates with wisdom and grace Eli Wiesel's timeless that, "For the dead and the living, we must bear witness.""
ALICE MCDERMOTT— Author of The Ninth Hour and What About the Baby?: Some Thoughts on the Art of Fiction
"The Spiral Shell depicts two vivid journeys, one inward, as Sandell Morse explores her own identity as a Jew and one outward, as she pieces together the history of French Jews under the Vichy government. Each journey is fraught with reversals, full of unexpected details and betrayals at many levels... This is a necessary, illuminating and beautifully intelligent memoir."
MARGOT LIVESEY— Author of Mercury and The Boy in the Field
Available Editions
| EDITION | Audiobook, Unabridged |
| ISBN | 9781943156603 |
| PRICE | $16.99 (USD) |
| DURATION | 8 Hours, 14 Minutes |
Available on NetGalley
Featured Reviews
Dona B, Reviewer
In this touching memoir Morse brings us along on her multiple research trips to the south of France. While there are numerous people that she meets and interviews she gains the trust and friendship of several survivors and tells us the story of 3 women of the French Resistance who rescued Jewish children in the town of Auvillar.
This amazing, heartbreaking memoir taught me about the Vichy regime (who collaborated with the Nazis) where the French turned against their own. I cannot even imagine how the French could know who to trust and who would turn them in.
The narration of this well-written memoir made the story so real. Morse’s frustration in discussing her religion with her father, the heartbreaking experiences of the resistance fighters, and the bonded friendships the author secured while researching were quite vivid and very real as I listened to the audiobook in one sitting. It was one that I could not stop listening to until I devoured it entirely.
My thanks to #NetGalley and Schaffner Press for this ARC. This honest review is my own.
Tricia M, Librarian
In Sandell Morse's memoir we are able to dig deeper in to one of the darkest moments in human history. It was interesting to read about the sides of history that is often brushed aside when we learn about WWII; such as those doing everything to fade into the background so they wouldn't be called out for any reason, the amount of people starving in the countries fighting and more about the resistance. Morse's father never really acknowledge his Jewish heritage, a fact I am discovering is common after the war, and begins her journey to discovering not only stories from the war but her own family history and the history of one town in particular.
What I found interesting was that as Morse searched for information about a nine year old boy who would carry messages for the resistance, she discovered that those who could remember information all remembered it in different ways. This is a great reflection as to why a lot of our information contradicts each other since no two people will remember things the exact same way. It was nice to see that during her search for the truth to events that happened Sandell was able to come to terms with her own family history and dig deeper into parts she never associated with.
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