The White Brigade

This novel, published in 1943, is described as “an absorbing and authentic account of the Belgian underground” during the Second World War. In effect it's a factual account of the White Brigade resistance movement (“all the characters in the book are real”), written in the form of fiction to protect the identities of those involved in the struggle against Nazi occupation. The central character, Jean Buchet, believes he is involved in the Resistance for the sake of his daughter but the terrible living conditions in Nazi-occupied Belgium lead to a tuberculosis epidemic and both his wife and daughter are infected. A wanted man for his resistance activities, his terminally-ill wife urges him to flee to England. There he joins many other Belgian exiles flying in the Royal Air Force.

The author, Robert Goffin (born 21 May 1898), grew up in the Walloon part of Brabant in central Belgium. He was educated at the Athenaeum Saint-Gilles in Brussels and then studied law at the city’s Free University. His first book of poetry was published in 1918. During the five years preceding the Second World War, he published 13 books: two novels, three collections of poetry, three long studies on eels, rats and spiders, two works of literary criticism, two books on the Habsburgs and also a Michelin-type gastronomy guide. He lived in exile during the Second World War, supporting himself by writing and delivering lectures. During this period, along with several well-researched books set in Nazi-occupied Belgium, he also published books on the history of jazz and delivered a related course at the New School for Social Research in New York City. After the war he returned to Belgium and resumed his work as a lawyer. In 1953 he was elected to the prestigious Royal Academy of French Language and Literature.

Whereas many outsiders would contrast the German occupation of Belgium in the First World War with the Nazi occupation in the Second World War, the author describes how the country was “occupied by the same enemy who had tortured it in 1914”. The central character, Jean Buchet, “remembered with anguish those years of desolation”. Reference is made to the Resistance movement during that first occupation, citing the response in the underground press to the execution of Philippe Baucq in October 1915:
“You may rob us, imprison us, even kill us; you can never silence us... Our voice is the voice of all the mothers, the widows, the children who weep for those whom they have lost. That voice will not be still until the last German, soldier or spy, has left the country, invaded as it was in contravention of every right.”

Siren in the Night

This detective novel, published in 1943, is set during the Second World War. The plot connects two major events in modern American history: the great fire of San Francisco in 1906, when more than 80 per cent of the city was destroyed, and the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941 (the siren in the title refers to the blackout siren connected with air raids). Two murders take place in the respectable neighbourhood of San Joaquin Terrace. There are formal detectives investigating the crimes, Colonel Primrose and Sergeant Buck, but also Grace Latham, the narrator, who happens to observe aspects of both crimes and pieces together who might have been involved in the murder and why.
 

The author, Zenith Jones (née Brown, born 8 December 1898), wrote under the pseudonyms of Brenda Conrad, Leslie Ford and David Frome. Born in California, where her father was an Anglican missionary to Native Americans, she grew up in the state of Washington. She studied at the University of Washington in Seattle and following her marriage to an academic, she taught English there from 1921 to 1923. Between the publication of Murder of an Old Man in 1929 and Trial by Ambush in 1962, she wrote more than 60 detective novels. Whereas her novels as Leslie Ford were mostly set in large American cities, her novels as David Frome were set in London.

The family at the centre of the plot is that of Loring Kimball. His wife had disappeared during the 1906 fire and her husband had kept a light on in one of the rooms of his house since then, ostensibly to honour her memory. This approach to mourning resembles the respect shown for young men (sons or husbands) who went to war and never came home. The author touches on the impact of the First World War on American society. Of the two detectives investigating the murder case, Colonel Primrose “was wounded in the Argonne” (the American offensive of September-November 1918) and “his iron henchman Sergeant Buck... also 92nd Engineers”.

Curious George

This children's story, published in 1941, has become an international classic. Appearing during the Second World War, it explores relevant themes for children during wartime, namely curiosity and danger. The central character, George, is captured in his native jungle by a zoologist as a result of his characteristic curiosity and taken to America. There his curiosity again leads him into dangerous situations. There isn't a moralistic side to the story — he's not deliberately mischievous but his curiosity is still putting him and others at risk.

The co-author Hans Rey (né Reyersbach, born 16 September 1898) was brought up in Hamburg, where he lived close to the zoo and spent a lot of time there observing the animals. He joined the army as an 18 year old and served in France and Russia. After the war he studied at the universities of München and Hamburg. His first illustrations were published in 1923. In 1925, due to the economic depression he emigrated to Brazil. He later met there a family friend from Hamburg and he married Margret in 1935 and relocated to France later that year. While living in Paris, his animal drawings for several children's books came to the attention of a French publisher, who commissioned him to write a children's book and it was published in 1939. The couple, both Jews, had completed the manuscript for the next book (this one) when they were forced to flee into exile in June 1940 by the impending Nazi invasion. Settling in New York, the couple agreed a four-book deal with a Boston publisher in February 1941 and Curious George appeared later that year. It's generally accepted that the storyline was largely Margret's work with Hans adding the illustrations. They produced a further six books about the same character as well as several other story books for children. Hans also wrote an illustrated guide to astronomy.

George, the monkey featured in the story, ends up in prison. When the guard enters his cell, he manages to escape and goes up onto the roof.
“And then he was lucky to be a monkey:
out he walked onto the telephone wires.
Quickly and quietly over the guard's head,
George walked away.
He was free!”

This passage no doubt brought to mind for the authors how they had themselves escaped Paris by bicycle to Orleans from where they took a train to the Spanish border and freedom.

The Levantines

This historical novel, published in 1961, is set in the Italian community of northern Egypt in the interwar period and during the Second World War. I read it during Women in Translation Month. The central character, Daniela, has been raised as an orphan by her grandmother. As such, her character is a microcosm of the Levantine experience — not knowing whether they belong to Europe or to North Africa; not belonging to either the Arab community or the colonising British community; ostracised during the war; and disappearing without trace in its aftermath.

The author, Fausta Cialente (born 29 November 1898), the daughter of an Italian army officer, was a native of Sardinia but spent much of her childhood moving from place to place. When she married in 1921, she and her composer husband went to live in Alexandria, the main city of Egypt's Mediterranean coast. She completed her first novel, Natalia, in 1927 but it was not published until 1930 after she had made an impressive literary debut with the long story (it's a new term for me — apparently it falls somewhere between short story and novella), Marianna, in 1929. The novel Natalia explored the narrator’s memories of childhood and early adulthood; were it available in English I would have it read it as it includes the death of her father in the First World War and her correspondence with a young soldier on the front. Her second novel, wholly set in Egypt, was published in 1936. Involved in anti-fascist and resistance activities, her literary career was put on hold. She returned to Italy in 1947 but it was not until 1961 that this, her next novel, was published. She went on to write four more novels as well as a collection of short stories. Her final novel, Le quattro ragazze Wieselberger (The Four Wieselberger Girls) won the Premio Strega (Italy's most prestigious literary prize) in 1976.

Daniela, the orphan protagonist, seeks to understand her own background in conversation with her guardian grandmother:
“My grandmother was talking loudly, as she nearly always did. She was getting angry with Livia, which was not at all unusual, either, saying scornfully that Livia had made her miserable bit of money during the Great War, helping smugglers on the beach, which was then completely deserted, but no one had managed to find out how on earth she had landed up in Egypt, and with whom.”
There are other snippets about the First World War as the memories of different characters are explored.
Soàd, her grandmother's servant, tells Daniela what she wants to know about her early childhood:
“that immediately after the 'accident' my grandmother sent someone to fetch me in Italy. The Great War was on at the time and we made the journey in a convoy, guarded from attack, threatened by German submarines.”