Children of Pithiviers: A Novel

by Sheila Kohler

"Intricate and endlessly surprising….A beautiful and important book."—Margot Livesey, author of Banishing Verona and Eva Moves the Furniture

In the summer of 1942, more than two thousand Jewish children were interned in a concentration camp in Pithiviers, in the Loiret region of France. From this shameful chapter of history, Sheila Kohler weaves an extraordinary and compelling novel first published in 2001 and now appearing in paperback for the first time.

In Children of Pithiviers , a pair of young sisters escape deportation and find shelter with a local aristocratic couple known to all as Madame and Monsieur. Seventeen years later, a beautiful young Sorbonne student arrives to spend the summer as a "paying guest" of Madame and Monsieur, whose fortunes have diminished considerably since the war. Eighteen-year-old Deirdre discovers a diary kept by the two Jewish girls. In doing so, she not only learns their fate, but reawakens old suspicions, and old appetites on the estate.

Genres: Fiction

176 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

Sheila Kohler was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, the younger of two girls. Upon matriculation at 17 from Saint Andrews, with a distinction in history (1958), she left the country for Europe. She lived for 15 years in Paris, where she married, did her undergraduate degree in literature at the Sorbonne, and a graduate degree in psychology at the Institut Catholique. After raising her three girls, she moved to the USA in 1981, and did an MFA in writing at Columbia.

In the summer of 1987, her first published story, “The Mountain,” came out in “The Quarterly” and received an O’Henry prize and was published in the O’Henry Prize Stories of 1988. It also became the first chapter in her first novel, "The Perfect Place," which was published by Knopf the next year.

Reviews

[Jamie Marfurt]

Not what I was expecting -- creepy & dark (and disturbing), this book kept me on the edge of my seat as the past was slowly revealed.

[Diane]

Not my type of story.

[Sarah]

I read this book for the first time in 2008 and decided to re-read it this year. This book is both compelling and frightening, similar to Kohler's novel Cracks. The book draws upon the history of the town of Pithiviers, the location of a concentration camp for Jewish children during World War II. A decade or so later, a girl comes to spend the summer with the aristocratic de C family after her "disgrace"; her experiences with the Baron and Baroness lead her to discover the history of the region and what happened to two children who managed to escape the camp.

[Margery]

WWII Jewish children were taken in by French families and communities with varying degrees of care and attention."Monsieur" and "Madame" were the most debauched, hiding two little girls for him to molest. The author indicts all of Vichy France for neglecting these children and for returning them to the Nazis.

[Cordel Durrant]

Totally different from The Perfect Place, but the same emphasis on language and perspective to draw the reader in.

[Sarah "Kat"]

recycled. didn't read

[Cindy]

Too dark for my taste. I guess if you like books that are creepy, you would like this one. Madame and Monsieur are two disgusting characters.

[Sarah]

Could not put it down, but was also deeply disturbing.