A Novel
Sarah is a nineteen-year-old Jewish artist living in Paris at the outset of World War II. Her gift for forgery makes leads her to Marseille, where she joins a secret network dedicated to saving political refugees, writers, and artists from arrest by Hitler’s Gestapo. Will passion and cunning be enough to keep them all alive?
It's 1939, and all across Europe the Nazis are coming for Jews and anti-fascists. The only way to avoid being imprisoned or murdered is to assume a new identity. For that, people are desperate for papers. And for that, the underground needs forgers. In Paris, Sarah, a young Jewish artist originally from Berlin, along with her music teacher and father figure, Mr. Lieb, meet Cesar, a Spanish Republican who knows well the brutality of fleeing fascism. He soon recognizes Sarah's gift. She will become the underground's new forger. When the war reaches Paris, the trio joins thousands of other refugees in a chaotic exodus south. In Marseille, they're received by friends, but they're also now part of a resistance the government is actively hunting.  Sarah, now Simone, continues her forgery work in the shadows, expertly creating false papers that will mean the difference between life and a horrifying death for many. When Mr. Lieb is arrested and imprisoned in Les Milles internment camp, Simone, Cesar, and their friends vow to rescue him, enlisting the help of American journalist Varian Fry, known for plotting the escapes of high- profile people like Andre Breton and Marc Chagall. In this enlightening and thrilling story of war, love, and courage, author Linda Joy Myers explores identity, ingenuity, and the power of art to save lives.