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Pied Piper –Nevil Shute
4****

This work of fiction was written in 1942, and set in 1940, so the events portrayed were contemporary. The basic story line involves an elderly British man, John Howard, who goes on holiday to France’s Jural Mountains, near the border with Switzerland in April, planning to stay three months. But the Germans begin to cross into France while he is on holiday, and he must make the decision to return to England. A British woman staying at the same small inn with her two children, asks him to please take the boy and girl with him to their aunt in England. He agrees, expecting a non-eventful journey of two days. But �

This is a road trip and a suspense thriller with an undercurrent of family relationships and love. Mr Howard is a marvelous character. He’s unaccustomed to children but does his best; the boy and girl are only eight and five, after all. They don’t know to be frightened of German soldiers or tanks or airplanes. They’re excited by the adventure. They also need to be fed and clothed and bathed and given shelter. Sometimes they need to be entertained or to play. Sometimes they just don’t want to walk any more, or eat dry bread, or speak French. Along the way Mr Howard encounters other refugee children. He can’t very well leave them alone, so he takes them along as well.

There are several people who help Mr Howard � a ride here, a place to sleep there. I really liked the subplot of Nicole, a young French woman whose father once befriended Mr Howard and who agrees to help him. Their conversations help to uncover the hurt and pain each has suffered and that they share. And the reader witnesses how they open up to one another and begin to heal from past hurts.

Courage does not always involve fighting the enemy. Mr Howard and Nicole display the kind of quiet courage that comes from a deep conviction that what they are doing is correct, and a strong faith that somehow, they will prevail.




LINK to my review