In <i>The Spiral Shell</i>, author Sandell Morse talks about her time in the French village of Auvillar, learning about the aid they gave to Jews during World War II and how it helped her understand better herself and her Jewish heritage. Hers was an interesting story, but I think I would have preferred more about the village during World War II and less about her self-discovery; Morse’s research and attempts to learn about what happened made up the main gist of the book, rather than the actual happenings in World War II. This is on me, as I was expecting more history than memoir. If the book’s blurb sounds interesting to you, then check it out!

Many thanks to NetGalley for providing me an audio ARC of this book.

As an avid Holocaust reader/audiobook consumer I was excited to get stuck into this. Overall, I was interested in the accounts readying to subterfuge but I found the author’s account dragged so it was difficult to want to keep going even at a third of the way through, hence 3 stats from me. Had it been a book, I may have skimmed some, but my review is for the audiobook. I’m still grateful though to NetGalley and publisher for the opportunity to experience the author’s research into this period of France’s history.

This was a nice and interesting book. I actually listened to the audiobook. At first from listening it felt more like a historical fiction book but I checked and its a history/autobiography. Although I liked the narrators voice it didn't fit with the book. Her tone was wrong making it seem more like fiction. I did enjoy learning about the authors story. It covers her journey through her Jewish heritage. It was equally interesting and shocking. I just didn't connect enough with the book to give any higher than average. If you love biographies that follow Jewish family tree then this bookmight just be for you. I always say what I rate 3 stars might be your 5 star book so try reading a sample to see if it is perfect for you. I do feel that the book might be better than the audiobook. 

Many thanks to the author and publishers for bringing us this interesting story.

The above review has already been placed on goodreads, waterstones, Google books, Barnes&noble, kobo, amazon UK where found and my blog today https://ladyreading365.wixsite.com/website/post/the-spiral-shell-by-sandell-morse-timothy-scaffner-3-stars either under my name or ladyreading365

In Sandell Morse's memoir we are able to dig deeper in to one of the darkest moments in human history. It was interesting to read about the sides of history that is often brushed aside when we learn about WWII; such as those doing everything to fade into the background so they wouldn't be called out for any reason, the amount of people starving in the countries fighting and more about the resistance. Morse's father never really acknowledge his Jewish heritage, a fact I am discovering is common after the war, and begins her journey to discovering not only stories from the war but her own family history and the history of one town in particular.

What I found interesting was that as Morse searched for information about a nine year old boy who would carry messages for the resistance, she discovered that those who could remember information all remembered it in different ways. This is a great reflection as to why a lot of our information contradicts each other since no two people will remember things the exact same way. It was nice to see that during her search for the truth to events that happened Sandell was able to come to terms with her own family history and dig deeper into parts she never associated with.

I was disappointed that this book was more about the author and less about the Resistance. It just hit me as OK.

I have read many historical fiction novels about the French resistance and their efforts to save Jewish children during the Holocaust but this memoir became a personal endeavor for Sandell Morse. As a child, she always pushed her parents to allow her to explore, experience and celebrate her Judaism. Her father encouraged her to assimilate and not to bring attention to herself. Growing up, her grandparents played a major role in her life. She grew up eating traditional Jewish food and celebrating all the traditional holidays and hearing the occasional Yiddish words. Sandell always wanted to know more, though. She wanted to explore her roots and her own identity as a Jewish woman.

During a writing residency, Sandell was given the opportunity to travel to and spend time in Auvillar, a French village, that resided under the jurisdiction of the Vichy government during World War II and the Holocaust. She made numerous trips there and was given the chance to acquaint herself with some of the local people who had knowledge and stories about the fates of some of the French Jews that resided in their village during that horrific time. There were so many well hidden secrets, she discovered, imbedded within this small, quaint village. She learned to trust, listen and value the honesty and sincerity of the people she met. The people she met allowed her to explore the courage especially of those that set out to rescue Jewish children and save them from a fate of death. Truths were revealed about the cruelty and compliance of the Vichy government with the Nazis as well.

Sandell Morse’s main objective, when she was granted this fellowship, was to write this memoir. She wanted to explore her own family history, reconnect with her Jewish heritage and learn about Auvillar’s story during World War II and now in present time. I believe that she accomplished all that she set out to do. At the conclusion of her memoir, Sandell Morse finally gets to have the Bat Mitzvah she wanted as a young girl. All of her family and friends came to witness and celebrate this occasion with her. Sandell’s granddaughter uniquely passed the Torah to her grandmother. Usually the older generation passed the Torah to the younger generation. For Sandell, the act of finally celebrating and becoming a Bat Mitvah as an adult, probably meant more to her than if her father had allowed her the experience as a young girl. The Spiral Shell:A French Village Reveals Its Secrets of Jewish Resistance in World War II was a moving, heartfelt and probing work of desire for the author to explore her own roots and learn more about the French Resistance that operated at great risk in this small French town. It was beautifully written and delivered powerful messages. I listened to the audiobook that was narrated by Erin Bennett. I enjoyed her performance very much.

Thank you to Schaffner Books for allowing me to listen to this audiobook through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

The Spiral Shell: A French Village Reveals Its Secrets of Jewish Resistance in World War II: A Memoir
by Sandell Morse, narrated by Erin Bennett

Sandell Morse's memoir, The Spiral Shell, takes us places I've been before, in historical novels and in the little bit of research I've done while reading or listening to those novels. So I was able to slip in easily on her travels, getting a better taste of the surroundings and the people. Nazi occupied France was so entrenched in World War II, some of it's people fighting with the Resistance, or just trying to literally not starve to death while also trying not to be noticed, a few turning in friends and neighbors or actually being a part of the persecution of not only Jewish people but any people that found their way on Nazi hit lists. After the war, most people didn't want to talk about this time, and even now, it's not a subject many feel comfortable discussing.

Sandell grew up with a father who didn't want his family to acknowledge their Judaism and it's only in later life that Sandell fully embraces her Jewish heritage and all that goes with it. So when she travels to the village of Auvillar, France, to learn more about a nine year old Jewish boy whose parents, members of the Resistance, used him to carry messages, Sandell is seeing all that happened and didn't happen (but should have happened) through eyes that are seeking not only some truths about that time in history but also events, personal and public, relating to her Jewish faith and culture. I could only read/see this story through her eyes, I don't have her long family Jewish history to allow me to understand everything about the culture. But I can understand her anger, sadness, and horror at what went on back then, to any human, how more could have been stopped on an individual basis, and the questions about choices made and why they were made.

On this journey to learn and understand more, we see that the few people left who could remember that time or had relatives relate that time to them, have different versions of the same events. In this book, Sandell doesn't speak to the former nine year old boy, still alive, nor does she read the book he wrote (in a language she doesn't read) but we do learn a variety of versions of his story. It is so interesting to me to hear the stories of the past in this manner, from people who had been there or who had the stories passed on from those who were there. This is one woman's journey but the things she saw and learned affect us all, how people react during the worst of times. Brave things, cowardly things are done, many things that hurt too much to bring to the light of day. The narrator of the audiobook does a beautiful job with the narration and I felt like Sandell was talking to me.

Thank you to Timothy Schaffner and NetGalley for this ARC.

In this touching memoir Morse brings us along on her multiple research trips to the south of France. While there are numerous people that she meets and interviews she gains the trust and friendship of several survivors and tells us the story of 3 women of the French Resistance who rescued Jewish children in the town of Auvillar.

This amazing, heartbreaking memoir taught me about the Vichy regime (who collaborated with the Nazis) where the French turned against their own. I cannot even imagine how the French could know who to trust and who would turn them in.

The narration of this well-written memoir made the story so real. Morse’s frustration in discussing her religion with her father, the heartbreaking experiences of the resistance fighters, and the bonded friendships the author secured while researching were quite vivid and very real as I listened to the audiobook in one sitting. It was one that I could not stop listening to until I devoured it entirely.
My thanks to #NetGalley and Schaffner Press for this ARC. This honest review is my own.

Reading Sandell Morse's beautiful book is such a pleasure. The personal history twined around the accounts of France's still oft-denied complicity in the deportation and subsequent murder of thousands of Jewish citizens softens the experience without mitigating the true horror and tragedy of this part of French history,

Morse takes the listener on two distinct paths, one is a journey inside herself, to the roots of her own Jewish faith and her place in the history of her people and the other is a the War time history of Vichy France and the anti-Semitic feelings and active collaboration that still causes pain and gruff silence over 80 years later,

In spite of the deep sorrow of lives lost and stories buried Morse's book is overwhelmingly life affirming. Her pleasure in life, in the joys of the French countryside, the people she meets, not to mention the rich portrait of food and drink spliced through the narrative is enchanting, As she tells the stories of lost children she juxtaposes with the images of spicy, sweet, tarte and rich black expresso consumed in rooms in St Germain or by the Aude,

Sandell is an engaging travel companion and the journey with her is rich and warm, This being said she never flinches away from exposing the anti-Jewish bias she encounters, even among 'good' people and she carefully acknowledges how her own fair, blued-eyed appearance both shields her from prejudice and grants the dubious privilege of hearing unfettered opinions from those around her who assume her to be a gentile.

This books is shot through with the insistent need to know that those born during or just after The Second world war feel towards the period, This is something I have personally observed in my mother and her friends, a sort of survivor's guilt at one step removed from those who were safe in the UK or the US or who missed the Shoah through an accident of birth timing. It is compelling to hear Sandell find herself as she unpicks the history of a fearless Jewish resistance movement within the small towns of the south of France: the episode of the Jewish Girl Scouts sheltered throughout the war by their commanders is extraordinary. I would recommend this book for anyone interested in exploring what it is to be human and how to live with history,

A memoir and as such I am going to be sensitive. The narrator Erin Bennett did a nice job. I felt as if I was reading a research paper with notes in the margins. This didn't work for me. From the beginning I didn't connect.

Thank you NetGalley for accepting my request to read and review The Spiral Shell.