Priscilla: The Hidden Life of an Englishwoman in Wartime France

When Nicholas Shakespeare stumbled across a box of documents belonging to his late aunt, Priscilla, he was completely unaware of where this discovery would take him and what he would learn about her hidden past. The glamorous, mysterious figure he remembered from his childhood was very different from the morally ambiguous young woman who emerged from the trove of love letters, photographs, and journals, surrounded by suitors and living the dangerous existence of a British woman in a country controlled by the enemy. He had heard rumors that Priscilla had fought in the Resistance, but the truth turned out to be far more complicated.

As he investigated his aunt's life, dark secrets emerged, and Nicholas discovered the answers to the questions over which he'd been puzzling: What caused the breakdown of Priscilla's marriage to a French aristocrat? Why had she been interned in a prisoner-of-war camp, and how had she escaped? And who was the "Otto" with whom she was having a relationship as Paris was liberated?

Piecing together fragments of one woman's remarkable and tragic life, Priscilla is at once a stunning story of detection, a loving portrait of a flawed woman trying to survive in terrible times, and a spellbinding slice of history.

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Priscilla: The Hidden Life of an Englishwoman in Wartime France

When Nicholas Shakespeare stumbled across a box of documents belonging to his late aunt, Priscilla, he was completely unaware of where this discovery would take him and what he would learn about her hidden past. The glamorous, mysterious figure he remembered from his childhood was very different from the morally ambiguous young woman who emerged from the trove of love letters, photographs, and journals, surrounded by suitors and living the dangerous existence of a British woman in a country controlled by the enemy. He had heard rumors that Priscilla had fought in the Resistance, but the truth turned out to be far more complicated.

As he investigated his aunt's life, dark secrets emerged, and Nicholas discovered the answers to the questions over which he'd been puzzling: What caused the breakdown of Priscilla's marriage to a French aristocrat? Why had she been interned in a prisoner-of-war camp, and how had she escaped? And who was the "Otto" with whom she was having a relationship as Paris was liberated?

Piecing together fragments of one woman's remarkable and tragic life, Priscilla is at once a stunning story of detection, a loving portrait of a flawed woman trying to survive in terrible times, and a spellbinding slice of history.

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Priscilla: The Hidden Life of an Englishwoman in Wartime France

Priscilla: The Hidden Life of an Englishwoman in Wartime France

by Nicholas Shakespeare
Priscilla: The Hidden Life of an Englishwoman in Wartime France

Priscilla: The Hidden Life of an Englishwoman in Wartime France

by Nicholas Shakespeare

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Overview

When Nicholas Shakespeare stumbled across a box of documents belonging to his late aunt, Priscilla, he was completely unaware of where this discovery would take him and what he would learn about her hidden past. The glamorous, mysterious figure he remembered from his childhood was very different from the morally ambiguous young woman who emerged from the trove of love letters, photographs, and journals, surrounded by suitors and living the dangerous existence of a British woman in a country controlled by the enemy. He had heard rumors that Priscilla had fought in the Resistance, but the truth turned out to be far more complicated.

As he investigated his aunt's life, dark secrets emerged, and Nicholas discovered the answers to the questions over which he'd been puzzling: What caused the breakdown of Priscilla's marriage to a French aristocrat? Why had she been interned in a prisoner-of-war camp, and how had she escaped? And who was the "Otto" with whom she was having a relationship as Paris was liberated?

Piecing together fragments of one woman's remarkable and tragic life, Priscilla is at once a stunning story of detection, a loving portrait of a flawed woman trying to survive in terrible times, and a spellbinding slice of history.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780062297051
Publisher: Harper
Publication date: 01/17/2024
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
Pages: 453
File size: 8 MB

About the Author

Nicholas Shakespeare's books have been translated into twenty languages. They include The Vision of Elena Silves, winner of the Somerset Maugham Award, and The Dancer Upstairs, which was made into a film of the same name by John Malkovich. His nonfiction includes the critically acclaimed authorized biography of Bruce Chatwin. Shakespeare is married with two sons and lives in Oxford.

Table of Contents

Part 1

1 The Interrogation: 1943 3

2 Church Farm: 1957-66 5

3 The Alligator Handbag: 1950 12

4 Truck Driver 18

5 The Padded Chest 21

Part 2

6 Strange Existence 33

7 Gillian 46

8 SPB 58

9 Married Alive: 1936 66

10 Meeting Robert: 1937 71

11 The Abortionist 77

12 Boisgrimot 93

13 Letter from an Unknown Man 107

14 Vertès 116

15 War of Nerves 131

16 French Resistance 162

Part 3

17 Besançon 177

Part 4

18 London: October 1944 209

19 Brazen Lies 213

20 Paris: February 1941 218

21 Daniel Vernier 225

22 Emile Cornet 231

23 L'Affaire Stocklin 247

24 Resortissante Britannique 262

25 'Simone Vernier' 267

26 Kessel 278

27 'Otto' 284

28 The Missing Box 295

29 Graebener 305

30 Pierre 314

31 Chanson d'Automne 320

32 Tondue 334

Part 5

33 Living with Anybody 347

34 Life as a Mushroom Farmer's Wife 364

35 Too Much Gin 377

36 A Sympathetic Priest 388

37 Detonations from the Past 394

38 The End 402

39 An Unsent Letter 405

Acknowledgements 409

Sources 413

Picture Credits 425

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