Meg Waite Clayton

I wanted to like this book. Interesting topic, based on a real-life heroine who spent ww2 using her obscene wealth to get people out of occupied France, save them from the Nazis, etc, but I could not warm to the main character. As the author described her she comes across as soulless, caring most for her dog of all the other characters.
The author’s created characters also seem oddly unemotional. The situation they are in is frequently dire and yet the tension only raises once during their escape- there is never any doubt that with the heroine’s money and American papers all will come
To right.
Tiny bit annoying to have everyone say how she was safe because she has those US papers, like everyone involved genuflected at anyone who said they were American. And of course the American woman was more competent than all of the other women who didn’t have the magic papers and yet did the same or more dangerous work.
There’s a stuffed kangaroo that is inserted for increased twee. And the male hero insists on carrying his films with him everywhere despite the danger to him and his child if he does so.
A story of the privileged during ww2, living in chateaus and hosting parties. It galled a bit with the backdrop of the bombing of Ukraine.… (more)