Synopses & Reviews
France, 1940. The once glittering boulevards of Paris teem with spies, collaborators, and the Gestapo now that France has fallen to Hitler's Wermacht. For André Breton, Max Ernst, Victor Serge, Marc Chagall, Consuelo de Saint-Exupé ry, Remedios Varo, Benjamin Pé ret, and scores of other cultural elite denounced as enemies of the Third Reich, fear and uncertainty define daily life. One wrong glance, one misplaced confidence, could mean arrest, deportation, and death. Their only salvation is the Villa Air-Bel, a châ teau outside Marseille where a group of young people will go to extraordinary lengths to keep them alive.
Financed by the Emergency Rescue Committee, a private American relief organization, unlikely heroes— feisty graduate student Miriam Davenport, Harvard-educated classical scholar Varian Fry, beautiful and compelling heiress Mary Jayne Gold, and brilliant young Socialist and survivor of the Battle of Dunkerque Danny Bé né dite and his British wife, Theo— cajole, outwit, and use every means possible to stave off the Nazis and newly installed Vichy government officials circling closer with each passing day. The châ teau was a vibrant artistic salon, home to lively debates and clandestine affairs, to Sunday art auctions and subversive surrealist games. Relationships within the house were tense and arguments were common, but the will to survive kept the covert operation under wraps. Beyond the châ teau's luscious faç ade war raged, yet hope reverberated within its halls. With the aid of their young rescuers, this diverse intelligentsia— intense, brilliant, and utterly terrified— was able to survive one of thedarkest chapters of the twentieth century.
Villa Air-Bel is a powerfully told, meticulously researched true story. Rosemary Sullivan explores the diaries, memoirs, and letters of the individuals involved while uncovering their private worlds and the web of relationships they developed. Filled with suspense, drama, and intrigue, Villa Air-Bel is an excellent work of narrative nonfiction that delves into a fascinating albeit hidden saga in our recent history.
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“A moving and richly detailed account” Boston Globe
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“[Sullivan] manages to combine solid scholarship with a snappy writing style...a history book that is completely riveting” Vancouver Sun
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“the style is beautifully clear and concise….Sullivans book should be mandatory reading.” Irish Times
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“Villa Air-Bel is a remarkable achievement” National Post (Toronto)
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“[In Villa Air-Bel] stories are told with passion.” The Advocate
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“This is a magnificent, complex narrative of courage, folly, and complacency...a beautifully narrated book.” Telegraph
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“Her scene-by-scene evocation of life at the house reads like an updated Chekhov comedy laced with horror.” Financial Times
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“Sullivan has written a book of great detail and complexity, though one that is full of darkness.” Quill & Quire
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“A complex tale showing how hope and courage flourish, even in the toxic soil of totalitarianism.” Kirkus Reviews
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“With tremendous suspense and emotional pull, Sullivan recounts the little-known story of Varian Fry” Vogue
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“Villa Air-Bel is a most welcome book, a triumph of the human spirit” Philadelphia Inquirer
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“Deft handling of a twisted plot with a large number of characters.” The Forward
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“Its history, its intrigue. Its nonfiction. Its a real page-turner.” New York Magazine: Ask a Shop Clerk: Holiday Edition, Carol Wald
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“a moving tale of great sacrifice in tumultuous times.” Publishers Weekly
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“Sullivan brilliantly interweaves personal histories with terrifying tales” Sunday Times (London)
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"She's got style." Philadelphia Inquirer
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“Shes got style.” Philadelphia Inquirer
Synopsis
"Rosemary Sullivan goes beyond the confines of Air-Bel to tell a fuller story of France during the tense years from 1933 to 1941. . . . A moving tale of great sacrifice in tumultuous times." -- Publishers Weekly
Paris 1940. Andre Breton, Max Ernst, Marc Chagall, Consuelo de Saint-Exupery, and scores of other cultural elite denounced as enemies of the conquering Third Reich, live in daily fear of arrest, deportation, and death. Their only salvation is the Villa Air-Bel, a chateau outside Marseille where a group of young people, financed by a private American relief organization, will go to extraordinary lengths to keep them alive. In Villa Air-Bel, Rosemary Sullivan sheds light on this suspenseful, dramatic, and intriguing story, introducing the brave men and women who use every means possible to stave off the Nazis and the Vichy officials, and goes inside the chateau's walls to uncover the private worlds and the web of relationships its remarkable inhabitants developed.
Synopsis
France, 1940. The once glittering boulevards of Paris teem with spies, collaborators, and the Gestapo now that France has fallen to Hitler's Wermacht. For André Breton, Max Ernst, Marc Chagall, Consuelo de Saint-Exupéry, and scores of other cultural elite who have been denounced as enemies of the Third Reich the fear of imminent arrest, deportation, and death defines their daily life. Their only salvation is the Villa Air-Bel, a château outside Marseille where a group of young people will go to extraordinary lengths to keep them alive.
A powerfully told, meticulously researched true story filled with suspense, drama, and intrigue, Villa Air-Bel delves into a fascinating albeit hidden saga in our recent history. It is a remarkable account of how a diverse intelligentsia—intense, brilliant, and utterly terrified—was able to survive one of the darkest chapters of the twentieth century.
About the Author
Rosemary Sullivan has written poetry, short fiction, biography, literary criticism, reviews, and articles. Her recent books include the critically acclaimed Villa Air-Bel and Labyrinth of Desire. She is a professor emeritus at the University of Toronto and has been awarded Guggenheim, Camargo, and Trudeau Fellowships. She is a recipient of the Lorne Pierce Medal, awarded by the Royal Society of Canada for her contribution to literature and culture, and is an Officer of the Order of Canada.