Shadows at Sunset:
a memoir
Written by
Bill MacDonald
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240 pages, Paperback
ISBN: 9780888873446
$18.95 CA
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About the Book
Fabien LeBeau´s World War II memoir begins with childhood recollections and ends with his death a few years ago at Neuilly asylum. All his life he struggled to comprehend loyalty, treachery, betrayal, courage, bravery, senseless cruelty. He reveals what´s going on in his mind, in his family, in the provincial towns he inhabits and in his parochial schools he teaches at. He tells of his father´s loss of morals and his mother´s flagrant consorting with high-ranking German officers, despite her intuition of ultimate tragedy, in exchange for lavish gifts and creature comforts. Fabien is 11 years old when the Germans occupy France at the beginning of World War II. His father, an ambitious, unscrupulous lawyer, moves his family (and his secretary) to Paris from Avignon and collaborates with the enemy in order to "take advantage of golden opportunities." He soon becomes a bureaucrat in the ruthless Expropriation Unit of the Nazi military government, with an office at the Palais de Justice and influential friends at Gestapo Headquarters in the Meurice Hotel. All it costs him is his patriotism, his integrity and his sense of decency - a small price to pay, or so he thinks, until 1944, when Paris is finally liberated.
Meet Yveline Aurignac, the love of Fabien´s life. Meet his friend and rival, Lolive Vellefaux, whose father is a double agent with sinister obligations. Meet Major Forst and Captain Schiller, two ruthless, dedicated German officers, as different as night and day. Meet Fabien´s doctors, teaching collegues, friends and enemies. Be there as he not only survives but rises above the perils of liberation, revenge, his father´s murder, his mother´s commitment to Neuilly psychiatric hospital. Share his horror of war, his fascination with the military mind, his joy of life, his ultimate faith in the human spirit.
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About the Author
Bill MacDonald
Since graduating from the University of Manitoba, and a year in Paris studying at the Sorbonne, Bill has been a forester, arctic weatherman, immigration officer, and school teacher. He lives in Thunder Bay, selling his books and scenic photography at Fireweed Crafts Inc. His short fiction has appeared in "Geist Magazine" and "Prairie Fire." Recent books include:
"Lamplight" (2010), "Sirens" (2009),
"The Quarry" (2008), "Shadows at Sunset" (2007), "Ruby's Last Ride and other stories" (2007),"Close the Door Softly and other stories" (2007), "A House in the Country"(2007), "Through a Dark Cloud Shining" (2006), "Catwalk: a feline odyssey" (2006), "Barnabus Snug Harbour" (2006), "Soothsayer" (2006), "The Holly Tree" (2005), "Stinging Nettles" (2005), "Christmas Eve at Silver Islet" (2004), "Vive Zigoto" (2004), "Daughters of the Sun - Filles du soleil" (2003), "Hyenas in the Streets" (2003), "Goodbye Picadilly" (2002), "Patagonian Odyssey!" (2001), "Home Before Dark" (2001), and "The Great Millennium Mount Everest Cat Expedition" (2000).
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