War and Resistance

Australia's Second World War #1

by Sophie Masson

In 1939, 12-year-old Sasha, inspired by the words of her father, the celebrated journalist Louis Jullian, feels she must find a way to stand up to Nazi terror, in the shadow of a world at war. Hitler’s blitzkrieg results in the surrender of France and Sasha and her family flee Paris–learning first hand the brutality of war–and how acts of resistance, no matter how small, can make a difference. In their occupied country, fraternising with the enemy is frowned on, but necessary. It only gets more complicated when she meets Dieter, a member of the Hitler Youth and the son of her father’s best friend. How can Sasha know who to trust when the enemy becomes a friend?

240 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2019

About the author

Born in Indonesia of French parents, Sophie Masson was sent to live with her paternal grandmother in Toulouse, France, when she was just a baby and lived there till she was nearly five, when her parents came back from Indonesia and took her to Australia. All the rest of her childhood, the family stayed in Australia, with frequent trips back to France, and this dual heritage underpins a good deal of Sophie's work.
Sophie's first book appeared in 1990 and since then she has published more than seventy books, for children, young adults and adults. Her books have been published in Australia, the USA, UK, France, Germany, Italy, and many other countries. She has also had many short stories and articles published in newspapers, magazines, and online journals.
Sophie holds a BA and M.Litt in French and English literature, and a PhD in Creative Practice. A former Chair of the Australian Society of Authors, she is the current Chair (2021) of the New England Writers' Centre and of the Small Press Network. She is also the President committee of the New England and North West sub-branch of the Children's Book Council of Australia, NSW branch.
Sophie has received several awards for her creative work, including the Patricia Wrightson Prize in the NSW Premier's Literary Awards, and the YA category of the Aurealis Awards. In 2019 she received an AM in the Order of Australia for her significant service to literature as an author, a publisher, and through service to literary organisations.
Sophie's website is at www.sophiemassonauthor.com
She has a writing blog at www.firebirdfeathers.com
Her You Tube channel, with trailers to many of her books, is at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWLa...
She is also a regular contributor to the popular authorship blog Writer Unboxed, www.writerunboxed.com

Reviews

[Marina Osipova · Rating 5 out of 5]

Historical fiction at its best
In this book by an exceptional author, I was thrilled to meet the familiar characters from Australia’s Great War 1914 only now they were grownups with their children. The main character of the story set in WWII, Sasha seems to inherit the best traits from her parents for which I loved them—bravery and readiness to sacrifice their lives for a good cause.
The author introduces us also to a person with the opposite upbringing and ideas—a youth, Dieter who goes a long and painful way to find his bearings in the confusion of the Nazi propaganda and war.
It is with these two protagonists Sophie Masson weaves a suspenseful and compelling tale about how war makes people take sides and find the courage to resist the then seemingly unbreakable evil power.
I was fully involved in the lives of the characters, and I was especially pleased with the satisfying ending of the story and the lessons it carried. Packed with factual information, this is historical fiction at its finest.
With its great writing style and accurate picture of that dramatic period in history, it’s a must read for the younger generation of today. Like other books of this author, I loved this one and highly recommend it to fans of historical fiction and WWII in particular.

[Sha · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book was fantastic and exciting. It was about world war two and the consequences of world war I. It was also about a twelve-year-old girl named Sasha and her family needing to flee from Paris with a tiny car that they could barely fit in because France surrendered from nazi terror. Sasha later met a boy named Dieter, her father's best friend's son and was a Hitler youth. Sasha doesn't know if she can trust him, but she decides to trust him. When nazi Germany invaded the soviet union, Sasha depended on Germany, which used to be her enemy and Russia, which used to be allies, was now like an enemy. Can she still trust an old enemy and invader of her country?

[Sandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Second in this series. Another really good historical novel this time centering on the Resistance in France in the Face if the German invasion in the Second World War. Interesting to read the author’s notes.

[Rebecca Fung · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good piece of historical fiction exploring characters from different sides of the war, showing us different perspectives and effect on emotions and life that the World War could have on people.

[Gervy · Rating 4 out of 5]

11 yo son enjoyed this.