December 19, 2022
Ison follows Rockaway with a chilling psychological portrait of a young Jewish girl hiding in France during WWII. After 12-year-old Danielle’s father is shot dead in the street by a German soldier in 1941 for being Jewish, Danielle’s mother leaves her in the care of a couple posing as her aunt and uncle in a remote village in southern France. Now known as Marie-Jeanne, she attends the local Catholic church and school and tries to blend in. Terrified of being found out, Marie-Jeanne rehearses her false identity to the minutest detail, failing to realize that in the process she’s becoming brainwashed into collaborating with the Germans and forgetting who she really is. Then Lucien Bonnard, a young, handsome, and seemingly sympathetic Vichy official, flirts with the impressionable Marie-Jeanne, and she doesn’t realize until later that he’s tricked her into giving up her best friend, who likely ends up in Auschwitz. Finely drawn characters and scenes of rural life complement Ison’s unique vision and original spin on a familiar set-up. This challenging work stands out among historical fiction of the period.