Resisting the Enemy

We rated this book:

$9.99


Resisting the Enemy follows the story of Valentine de Vaillant, a young woman living in Paris during the 1940s and in the midst of German occupation. She is born to privilege, being the daughter of a sought-after architect, Charles de Vaillant, and a famous opera singer, Virginia Donaldson. Nonetheless, the time spent with her aunt and uncle in Australia shapes Valli to be a rather athletic young woman who enjoys testing the limits of her endurance as a runner, and who allows herself to wonder about her own singing abilities, without the constant jealous shadow of her mother. As her trainer Lazlo teaches her, “More races are won in the mind than in the legs. You must want it more than anything in the world.” After her time in Australia, Valli returns to her home in Paris, where she befriends Margie, a Russian Jewish girl.

Unfortunately, trouble soon finds the Vaillant family, and the tragic deaths of her loved ones force Valli to move to Lyon to live with her grandmother. Yet, this move merely serves as a catalyst for her rebellious nature to emerge. Valli joins the Resistance, and is then able to wreak her own subversive vengeance against the Germans who have taken over her beloved homeland: those who have turned “the vibrant City of Light [into] a ghost town.”

From the start, Campbell introduces Valli as a young woman with a mission. Her character is outspoken, defiant, and quite a liberated soul – she is aware of the dangers her role within the Resistance may hold for her, but she is still willing to take these risks for the sake of those entrusted to her care. With an air of nonchalance, and clear exploitation of her womanly wiles, Valli tries her best to manipulate anyone standing in her way. She meets her match on various occasions, making the reader wonder, who exactly is the enemy, and who is doing the resisting? With beautiful descriptions of Parisian life, nighttime operas, and clandestine missions, Campbell transports her readers to a treacherous and bygone era, which we witness through the attentive emerald eyes of her redheaded heroine.


Reviewed By:

Author
Star Count 4/5
Format eBook
Page Count 279 pages
Publisher Palmer Higgs
Publish Date 15-Oct-2014
ISBN 9780992549329
Bookshop.org Buy this Book
Issue January 2015
Category Historical Fiction
Share

Reviews

There are no reviews yet.

Be the first to review “Resisting the Enemy”

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.