WELCOME TO THE FREE ZONE

All characters are forced to battle against the bureaucracy and paperwork of Vichy-France and the spectre of the Germans closing in on the Free Zone. The self-serving sadistic gendarme, the grabbing, avaricious curé, the farmers trying to improve their lot with black-market dealings, the chaotic country kitchens filled with chickens and surplus children and rubbish - all are painted with a vivid and dark humour of this humorous and moving tale of a community and its families in turmoil during the Second World War. A lightly fictionalised tale based on the true story of Jewish refugees, the authors echo their experience of attempting to lie low in Nazi dominated France with two young children and take on the role of the Verès family in the novel. It is 1942 and a sleepy village in the Ardèche has become stuffed with refugees from all over France and indeed Europe - expats, exiles and migrant Jews all mingled together and daily life is shambolic. Several separate Jewish families have been lodged in guest houses and rented farmhouses, attempting to carve out a new life for themselves. Bemusing the locals and confused in return, they face the standard privations of food, and the challenging primitive conditions - non-existent toilets and lack of electricity are just the beginning. The crash of intellectual urban life meeting the practicalities of rural survival reverberates throughout the novel. 351pp, paperback.