Am soldier shot down over Belgium is brought to a resistance hideout in small village home. Story about his recovery and what happens to him and the woman treating him and others in the village. Good read.

A beautifully poetic love story between an injured pilot and a Belgian woman during WWII. Claire Daussois and her husband Henri are part of the resistance against nazis. They hide Jews in their farmhouse attic and move them along the organized network to safety.

Claire retrieves an injured American pilot from Jean's family barn, and with assistance from others in the resistance, helps heal his wounds. After 3 nazi guards are killed, many townspeople are rounded up, tortured and 10 are hung. Henri must depart the town and hide.

As Tom regains his strength he is attracted to Claire's compelling looks. Their coming together is powerfully intense and driven by gratitude on both sides, and because of the heightened danger around them. They never know when they could be caught.

50 years later Claire attends the re-union to honor and remember the American pilots and crew who landed in Delahaut to help the Allies.

An excellent, moving, painful and exciting read about the agonies of war, the fear and the courage.

it took me about 50 pages to get into this, but once i did, i really enjoyed the next 150 pages or so. there are some excellent turns of phrase and quality writing here. the story, though, for me, focused on probably the least interesting aspect of what was happening. i wanted to hear more about the resistance, about the village, about the cells, about the people. (most especially about why people so actively resist when the repercussions are so extreme, and can affect so many people; what motivates people to stand up and do the right thing when it's hidden? maybe it's just when i'm reading this, but it seems like *that* should be what this book is about.) so the last bit of the book really fell away for me, as it focused on the love relationship, and in doing so, made for some out of character actions. (there is literally no chance that after successfully hiding people for so long that claire would risk the line and her life to go for a coffee in the village with someone she is hiding. no way.)

but this is well written and describes a time well. i often wish her books would have a different focus, but her writing is good enough to keep me coming back anyway.

a couple of examples: "He was in Belgium. He remembered now the word Belgique, the boy's voice frantic and insistent, crowded with tears; and the word in English, the woman's voice, low and soothing, pronouncing the name of her country as if the word itself were sanctuary."

"...dust caught at their trousers." ( )

An emotional masterpiece! I could not put this book down and read long into the night never wanting it to end. I felt I was Ted and Claire and Jean throughout the entire story. I still find myself walking around my house or going about my day and suddenly catching my breath and wanting to sob because I have remembered some detail of their story. A profound story of love, hate, and the human spirit. ( )

Resistance is a WWII story . An American plane goes down in a small Belgian village occupied by the Nazis. The pilot Ted is rescued by a yong boy and hidden in the home of Claire and Henri. She nurses him as he has a badly injured leg. They fall in love but Ted is betrayed by Claire's husband and Claire is arrested.
What makes this book good is the simple story told so well.It has the ring of autheticity of a horrid war and a time of great darkness. ( )