Sunday, November 16, 2014

Author shocked by malicious campaign against her book

Caroline Moorehead on Village of Secrets: ‘I received warnings

The author is shocked by the malicious campaign against her book about the people who defied the Nazis in Vichy France

  • Caroline Moorehead
'I wanted to tell all their stories without favour or prejudice' … Caroline Moorehead. Photograph: Murdo MacLeod for the Guardian
In the summer of 2011, when I started work on my book Village of Secrets, the second in what will be a trilogy about resistance to dictatorship in France and Italy during and before the second world war, I received several warnings. This inspiring story, about the rescue of Jews, resisters and communists from the Vichy police and the Gestapo on a remote plateau in central France was, local historians told me, a hornets’ nest. In the years since the war, a particular group, united around the activities of a single man, had appropriated the story, forged their own version of events and would consider no other. I chose to think that by taking immense care to document every step of the way I would be able to steer safely between the conflicting truths. I was wrong. I have been shocked by the malice and personal nature of the attacks. After the book was nominated for the Samuel Johnson prize, they became organised and relentless, including a campaign to have Village of Secrets disqualified.

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