South of France, 1942. Twenty-one-year-old Lilou is selling lavender honey in the village square when the Nazis arrive in her beloved Provence. And when her best friend is dragged away simply for being Jewish, Lilou is horrified. As the village begins to take sides, Lilou secretly swears through angry sobs that she'll sacrifice everything to fight for what's right.
Drawn in to the French resistance, soon Lilou is smuggling hidden messages in fresh-baked loaves of bread and meeting Allied pilots in remote moonlit fields. She lives in fear that Kristian, a blue-eyed German soldier, knows about her work - but does he keep her secrets because he is undercover, too?
Everything changes when Lilou is given her most important task: to keep a frightened little boy, Eliot, hidden safe in her farmhouse. All alone in the world, Eliot refuses to speak as he clutches his treasured children's book close to his chest. Inside is a beautiful story of stars, planets and the night sky. But why is this innocent child the one, among thousands, who Lilou must save?
When she is told Eliot's book will help her decipher coded messages, Lilou knows he must have knowledge that could change the course of the war. But the day Kristian arrives at her farm searching for hidden Jewish families, Lilou is terrified that Eliot is in more danger than ever... Can Lilou trust the one person who could tear her world apart? And will she ever help Eliot find his way home?
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Lilou and Freddie shared the bike down the hill, him pedalling too fast, her balancing on the saddle, the big baker's basket on the handlebars filled with honey from their farm.- CHAPTER 1, THE END OF INNOCENCE (VALLON-DOUX, SOUTH OF FRANCE, NOVEMBER 1942
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(@bookouture, 15 January 2024, e-galley, 331 pages, ARC from the publisher via @NetGalley, #BlogTour 18 January)
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Over the past few years I've come to really enjoy historical fiction and have read a lot of books set before, during and after WWII. I enjoyed The Girl from Provence a lot. I thought this historical details were spot on. I also thought the details about WWII were very vivid and stayed with me after I'd finished the book. I liked the characters as well. I loved Lilou, a rebel in the best way, furious at what the Nazi's are doing to her village and what they did to her best friend when he was dragged away for being a Jew, determined to fight back and not give in. The book is intense at times as Lilou takes dangerous risks to help.
