Paper Bullets: Two Artists Who Risked Their Lives to Defy the Nazis

by Jeffrey H. Jackson

Paper Bullets is the first book to tell the history of an audacious anti-Nazi campaign undertaken by an unlikely pair: two French women, Lucy Schwob and Suzanne Malherbe, who drew on their skills as Parisian avant-garde artists to write and distribute “paper bullets”—wicked insults against Hitler, calls to rebel, and subversive fictional dialogues designed to demoralize Nazi troops occupying their adopted home on the British Channel Island of Jersey. Devising their own PSYOPS campaign, they slipped their notes into soldier’s pockets or tucked them inside newsstand magazines.

Hunted by the secret field police, Lucy and Suzanne were finally betrayed in 1944, when the Germans imprisoned them, and tried them in a court martial, sentencing them to death for their actions. Ultimately they survived, but even in jail, they continued to fight the Nazis by reaching out to other prisoners and spreading a message of hope.

Better remembered today by their artist names, Claude Cahun and Marcel Moore, the couple’s actions were even more courageous because of who they were: lesbian partners known for cross-dressing and creating the kind of gender-bending work that the Nazis would come to call “degenerate art.” In addition, Lucy was half Jewish, and they had communist affiliations in Paris, where they attended political rallies with Surrealists and socialized with artists like Gertrude Stein.

Paper Bullets is a compelling World War II story that has not been told before, about the galvanizing power of art, and of resistance.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, World War II, Biography, Art, Historical, War

336 pages, Hardcover

First published November 10, 2020

Reviews

[Fran · Rating 5 out of 5]

1920's Paris was "a place for women to be more independent than they had been before [WW I]". Lucy Schwob and Suzanne Malherbe were step-sisters, wealthy bourgeois, bank-rolled by their families so they could embrace life in bohemian Paris. They were frequent visitors to evenings hosted by Sylvia Beach [owner of Shakespeare And Company], an English language bookstore and its counterpart, the French language bookstore owned by Adrienne Monnier where "literary lights" could meet. Beach & Monnier and Gertrude Stein & Alice B. Toklas were their role models. Lively discussions of arts and ideology prevailed. Lucy & Suzanne were lovers, however, well practiced in the art of secrecy. Lucy was painfully introverted and sickly. Suzanne was calm, down to earth and Lucy's caregiver. Each was artistic with a common love of photography. Lucy was a writer, Suzanne an illustrator. They worked with surrealists to push artistic boundaries. In 1922, conversations were becoming more political, tensions were rising.

By 1937, war was coming. Lucy had an additional secret. She was of Jewish heritage. The two women chose to move to Jersey, the largest of the Channel Islands. The island's towns offered a blend of English and French culture. When Germans became the occupiers, Lucy and Suzanne used the written word as a form of resistance. Arguably, "most writers in occupied territories targeted civilians. The goal of these authors was to keep up morale. By contrast, Lucy and Suzanne spoke directly to the soldiers themselves appealing to them in their native language as good German men, hoping to divide the soldiers from their leaders so that the rank and file would desert or even mutiny". They created a disgruntled soldier with his own signature and identity...Der Soldat Ohne Namen-The Soldier With No Name. The German High Command was frustrated trying to unmask this soldier. Notes were slipped into soldiers pockets, montages between pages of magazines, leaflets left on cafe tables and in churches. An abandoned house soon to have German occupants displayed a wall hanging, a cropped photo of soldiers legs marching through the mud with the caption, "Ohne Ende-Without End".

Claude Cahun (Lucy) and Marcel Moore (Suzanne) both fifty-ish, seemingly eccentric sisters, defied the Nazis through messages both creative and highly humorous. "Their work clearly was and always would be, a partnership". Claude (Lucy) most often was the model photographed in the avant-garde style as seen through the lens of Marcel (Suzanne), the photographer. The Jersey Heritage Collection houses many photos of Lucy including a photo of Lucy dressed as the Buddha, ca. 1927. "Lucy and Suzanne enjoyed the freedom to float between [genders] when it suited them".

"Paper Bullets: Two Artists Who Risked Their Lives to Defy The Nazis" by Jeffrey H. Jackson is an insightful, meticulously researched history of two remarkable women. To the citizenry of Jersey, they seemed to self isolate, but in truth, they performed many acts of kindness while using words, poems and illustrations as a form of psychological warfare, so called "paper bullets". Author Jackson has masterfully documented the lives of two very important resistance fighters in the Channel Islands. Highly recommended.

Thank you Algonquin Books and Net Galley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Orpheus · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm a little unsure about the use of the word women to describe Claude Cahun and Marcel Moore. As someone who has read most of Cahun's writing (queer history is my special interest!), particularly their semiautobiographical work "Disavowels" I distinctly remember that Cahun described themself as feeling neither male nor female, so I don't think it would be offbase to assume that they wouldn't describe themself as a woman and that they would prefer to use their chosen name instead of their birth one. I don't know as much about Moore, but it is likely that they also were not entirely cisgendered. Jackson acknowledges this,even quoting the line, but then resumes the "amazing women" narrative despite this. I guess that's what you get when cishet men write about genderqueer people. They just ignore us, and dead name us or they erase us entirely. Huzza patriarchy!

Other than the cis-ifying, this was a good look at the nazi resistance of two heroes. While it mentions their art in the 1920's most of the book is focused on late 30's and beyond after the nazis became established. The prose is engaging and easy to follow, remaining mostly chronological with occasional references to Cahun's childhood.

[Paperclippe · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was simultaneously gripping and very hard to read. A tale of two people in love during a time of fascism and hate when the very things that make up who they are - their genders, their beliefs, their art, their love - make them bigger targets, and the things they did to fight back. Given the administration of the past four years and my own identities in a time of authoritarian regime, this hit me in a lot of tender places. Some places it bruised, other places it healed.

The two women (though I use the term loosely; I wasn't there, I wasn't with them, and it wasn't the here and now, but both people seem to identify as what we would now call GNC or nonbinary, or possibly something else entirely) outlined in Paper Bullets used their skills as artists and their connections in the French revolutionary art scene to fight the Nazis from their home on the tiny occupied island of Jersey, using cigarette papers to make antifascist fliers that they would leave behind on the windshields of cars, tiny messages of defiance and strength in the face of violence and hate. After all, who would suspect two women, two 'sisters,' one of them ill at that? And yet, if they had been discovered, their very identities, the things they were using as well of resilience, would have been their downfall.

The prose in this book is beautiful in its straightforwardness, and the pictures that are included are powerful, beautiful, almost painful to look at. As we continue, in the US and around the world, though a time of uneasy transition, Paper Bullets shows us that it can be done, and that love and truth will bolster us through even the hardest times and darkest places.

[Erin Spicer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall this book was fascinating. I found the story to be a unique perspective of the resistance and valued the women’s use of art as their fighting tool. WWII usually captures my attention, so this story intrigued me from page one (<—that’s for you, James😉). I would only recommend reading “The Story Behind the Story” first...for additional context and framework. The topics of gender, identity and discovering ones true self are themes throughout this book. Definitely unlike any other WWII book I’ve read, in a good way.

[Joanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Paper Bullets: Two Artists Who Risked Their Lives to Defy the Nazis

This was a tough one for me to rate. I really loved the first and last sections of the book, it was the middle that dragged for me and it got so bad I nearly threw in the towel. I persevered, but it was a struggle.

This is the story of Lucy Schwob and Suzanne Malherbe (aka Claude Cahun and Marcel Moore). Lucy and Suzanne were avant-garde artists in the 1930's. They were also a couple. The first part of the book concentrates on their early years in Paris and then flows to Jersey, one of the Channel Islands, during WWII. Isolated on Jersey, the pair decided to do their part to resist the Nazis. They began drawing and writing pamphlets and scattered them across the island. Eventually they were hunted and apprehended, and imprisoned on Jersey. That is where the story got very dry. The author notes at the back of the book were well worth the time, and explained somethings that had been murky in the text.

I wanted to love this book, I just didn't.

[Kim McGee · Rating 4 out of 5]

When the Channel Islands were taken over by the Nazis two female artists living in Jersey decided to take on the Nazis headfirst by waging their own war of homemade propaganda and art. It was brave, maybe foolish and it created a great deal of angst for the German command. The author tells this story as if he too couldn't believe how long they kept this up before they were captured and imprisoned. These two women, Lucy Schwob and Suzanne Malherbe told everyone they were sisters but kept a much more dangerous secret - they were longtime lovers. Held in prison they were separated but still managed to communicate in unusual ways. It is an amazing story of the power of underground movement and more of WWII's unsung heroines. It is easy to read and includes photographs throughout to help illustrate just how avant-garde they were. My thanks to the publisher for the advance copy.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fascinating story about resistance against the Nazis that is much different from typical memoirs about the Holocaust, as it is about two middle aged queer artists on the small island of Jersey, using art as anti Nazi propaganda. I am so glad that I learned about these two remarkable women. My only complaint would be that the writing does get a little too academic at times, but overall it is still very readable. Would love to see this made into a movie.

[Elizabeth (Literary Hoarders) · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I’m happy to know of Lucy Schwob and Suzanne Malherbe, the book too frequently drifted into the weeds for me. Their acts of resistance, even the most subtle, were immensely brave, and they were fascinating artists. There’s no question that it’s important to know stories like this. I guess I just wish that it wasn’t such a dry read.

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a well written book. It gave me a different perspective on resistance than I had ever though of and probably never would have thought of. Lucy and Suzanne resisted the Nazis on Jersey Island. They did not use the typical resistance of the resistance fighters that I used to think of. I found their responses to the Nazis surprising. They stood up to them in a way that surprised even the Nazis. I only wish that there had been a map of Jersey Island showing the location of the island in relation to the coasts of France and England. I could say much more but don't want to give away the events in the book. Please read it for yourself, you won't be sorry.

[R E · Rating 5 out of 5]

Paper Bullets is a riveting read, a unique look into the lives of two little-known pioneering queer artists, both middle aged women, who used their queer sensibilities to resist Nazi occupation and undermine German aggression. Clearly and compellingly written, author Jeffrey Jackson brings new research to light, skillfully assembling fragmentary evidence into a coherent and lucid account that starts in the artistic and political fermentation of 1920’s Paris and ends just after the Nazi depredations of World War 2.

The book is also a revelation. I’ve included one of these women, Lucy Schwob, aka Claude Calhoun, in my university lectures about LGBTQ history and women who’ve pushed gender boundaries. But what I didn’t know was that Lucy’s life partner and lover, Suzanne Malherbe, aka Marcel Moore, was her full artistic collaborator, with each woman blending their individual talents into their combined artistic output.

Susanne was the trained artist, Lucy a gifted writer. Totally tied into the Parisian art scene, their address book reads like a who’s who of the post-war art world, including Andre Breton, Gertrude Stein, and Salvador Dali. Lovers from their teen years on, Lucy was introverted and had to contend with both a difficult home life and bouts of ill health; Suzanne was more outgoing and pragmatic, and was often Lucy’s stable rock during difficult times. Together, they produced a series of photographs that articulate an early understanding of sexual fluidity and identity before there were names for these ideas.

In the late 1930’s, as a result of Lucy’s deteriorating health, the two moved to Jersey, a Channel island between England and France. Little did they know that their new home would be captured by the Nazi’s as part of Hitler’s European putsch. Worse, Jersey, along with the handful of other Channel Islands, was to become the second most important link in Hitler’s Atlantic Wall against the Allies (after Northern Europe).

In response, Lucy and Suzanne mounted their own unique brand of psychological warfare against the occupying Germans. The couple (Suzanne being fluent in German) invented German characters who spoke, through their made-up flyers, leaflets, and communiques, directly to their fellow German soldiers.

Shrewd and effective, Lucy and Suzanne realized that German soldiers were more likely to listen to those they believed to be other German soldiers than to their enemies. The trick was to make the Germans believe they were receiving messages from other Germans saying the war effort was futile and already failing. This is where Suzanne’s skill as an artist and Lucy’s skill as a writer came into play. Is it more manly to die in a war that only benefits Germany’s elite, their fake notes and leaflets asked, or to return home to ensure the safety of your wife and children? Do you want to die in a war without end, only to enrich Hitler and his cronies?

Over the course of the occupation, the two secretly distributed hundreds - perhaps thousands - of these psychologically destabilizing materials to German soldiers. They were by no means the only ones resisting. But because both were artists and highly educated, the couple’s psychological warfare seems to have been particularly effective, with the German command of the island spending countless hours amassing and studying a large file of their work. Even worse for the Germans was the fact that, after interrogating the women, only a small fraction of the couple’s print warfare had been turned in. How many German soldiers had read and then destroyed these missives - or, worse, kept them?

“The more time they spent trying to find us, the less they could give to their nefarious pursuits,” wrote Suzanne after the war.

When the couple’s early, gender-bending photos were discovered, the work was attributed only to Lucy as Claude Calhoun (Claude being a gender neutral name in French and Calhoun taken from Lucy’s grandmother). David Bowie, himself a gender-bending artist, wrote about a 2007 exhibit of the photographs, saying “I find this work really quite mad, in the nicest way.” But it’s only now, with the author’s detective work, that we get a more comprehensive understanding that Lucy and Suzanne were artistic collaborators.

Jackson’s narrative, especially the account of the couple’s arrest and trial, is a page-turner. We get a deep sense of the women’s love for each other in the 1910’s and 1920’s, but it’s during the German occupation that we get the sense of two souls inextricably bound together. It’s an outstanding work of history, empathy and insight. Not satisfied with the e-book, the hardcover edition is now sitting proudly on a bookshelf, and I suspect it’s a book I’ll return to many times.

[Margie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a non-fiction story of the occupation of the Island Jersey (off shore of Great Britain) by the Germans, and 2 women who conducted a propaganda campaign against the Germans.

I think it was incredibly brave of these two particularly given their choice of lifestyle. They were very innovative how they conducted their campaign against the Germans using their art, letters, etc. and cleverly placing them in spots surely to be noticed by the soldiers.

I was not aware that the Germans occupied Jersey, but I wish there was more information. This book left me wanting more.

[Missy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Paper Bullets by Jeffrey H. Jackson was not what I expected. I thought it was going to be an account of wartime resistance. But it seemed to be more about memorializing Suzanne Malherbe, whom Jackson believes has been previously misunderstood.

The women spent the 1920s as a couple in Paris cross dressing, and creating art - primarily photographs - that blurred gender lines. Jackson spends the first fifth of the book describing this period in their lives. He portrays their lives, particularly Lucy's, as one of struggle - a struggle Jackson feels prepared them to be resisters in wartime.

The section on their resistance activities seemed like it was difficult to write - perhaps Jackson didn't have much material to work with. He would leave the storyline of the women's resistance to skip back to the Paris timeframe. He attempted to connect Schwob and Malherbe's art and style with their WWII resistance. He would take the tone of an art critic to draw together themes. It was quite a stretch, and I found it distracting from the overall story. I also had trouble seeing their acts of resistance as being very significant. They were never part of an organized movement, but preferred to be separate from others.

The prison section was odd, even by Nazi prison standards. There was heavy emphasis on the friendly relationships between Suzanne and the German prison workers. Suzanne, in particular, was portrayed as a woman who stood strong in her ethical convictions and was respected by her captors.

*spoiler alert
Lucy and Suzanne both attempted suicide twice during their several months in prison. They were cared for by their housemate and neighbor, who brought several care packages, yet the women seemed to have no close relationships outside of each other. The women died of ill health and suicide 10 and 30 years after the war ended.

The comments about relationships are to say something didn't ring true about the way Jackson reconstructed the narrative, although he clearly did a lot of research.

I was provided an electronic ARC in exchange for my review. #NetGalley

[Sharon · Rating 3 out of 5]

What should have been an interesting story felt slow and dull. This can happen when there are gaps in the historical record; while this is certainly true here, it made for honestly vague reading. This is the story of two leisure class people in a low-stakes resistance game, and even when they were caught, tried and sentenced, it never felt like there was much real danger of the sentence being carried out. Was that really the case? or just how the book made it feel?

I very much appreciated Jackson's end notes on the decision to use the terms/pronouns he chose for the two subjects. It's hard to rewrite those norms in the light of today's usages.

[Felicia Allen · Rating 5 out of 5]

WWII is my favorite time period to read about. This book does the history justice. I loved the accuracy, the characters and the story line.

[Isabelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Paper Bullets // by Jeffrey H. Jackson

I had a really difficult time deciding on how to rate this book because I really couldn't figure out my feelings for it. I decided to settle on 3 stars because while I found that it covered a highly interesting topic, I did struggle to stay engaged with the book itself due to its organization at some points. The women whose lives were explored in Paper Bullets were incredible. I had never heard of them before and found their strength in the face of such difficulties to be such a huge inspiration. I love that they found a purpose and a passion during such a hard time in their lives and how they stayed true to who they were even when they faced death itself. While I had heard of Jersey before, I did not actually know about any of its history. I got to learn a lot about the island and its inhabitants in this book as well as the small ways in which civilians resisted their Nazi invaders, from inside and outside their jail cells. It was also interesting as well as unsettling to be forced to view these soldiers as fellow human beings with complex motivations, fears, and goals despite the regime they worked under that was so undeniably cruel.

While I highly admire these women and their cause, I did struggle to stay immersed in the book. It may be possible that the final draft of the book is more organized with better transitions but as it is, I found myself confused and pulled out of the story several times by scene changes that weren't immediately obvious due to the lack of indication that one situation ended and a new one began. I do recommend reading the notes at the end of the book as it may explain some of the difficulties in writing a cohesive book for the lives of these incredible women. Overall, I am very glad to have read this book as it taught me an entirely new chapter about this time in history.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for providing me with a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have come across some of Claude Cahun and Marcel Moore's photographic work in other books exploring female artist pioneers. Intrigued, I wanted to learn more. This book was a great place to start. This definitely read more like a world-history novel than an art-history book, but I did learn a lot more about my subjects. I felt the book benefitted from its format where the pictures were included throughout the chapters. The book is split into sections including pre-war, active resistance fighting (using their leaflets they created and stealthily distributed), their military trial, and post-trial. Claude Cahun and Marcel Moore are artistic identities that belong to half-sisters Lucy Schwob and Suzanne Malherbe. They were French collaborators who were occupied by German soldiers in the 1940s on the British isle of Jersey. The novel sheds more light in Suzanne's role in the occupation, as Lucy is the face of most of their artsy photographs and was a prolific writer, Suzanne's contributions were often ill-understood, downplayed or simple set aside. From studying their life, we find that Suzanne and Lucy were most likely lesbians or non-binary who spent their adult lives together and used their creative abilities to fight the injustices they saw in the world despite the high cost it could have to their lives. I found the book fascinating. Within these pages, you learn the story of the Soldier with No Name and the body of work the girls created to bring him to life.

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting look at part of WW II that I barely knew about. I liked the author’s “The Story Behind the Story” and recommend reading it first. Liked that he felt humble trying to tell the story of lesbian artists when he was neither. The first part of the book when Lucy and Suzanne live in Nantes and in Paris, is probably critical to understanding their work during the War, but this was definitely not the part of the book that I liked – I did not relate well to the culture or the people. Once they arrive to live on Jersey, everything seems to change – they become different people, ones that I liked and related to much more. After they are arrested, everything changes. I became fascinated by their comments and by their involvement with other prisoners and with the German soldiers: “They found ways to create unity, cooperation, and connection across lines of division, which the Nazis had exploited. ..they were fighting for something, not merely against something .” (p 268)

[Cindy H. · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fascinating true story of two women, step -sisters and secret lovers who quietly defied the Nazi’s by creating & distributing anti-Nazi leaflets during the German Occupation. Coming of age in 1920’s France and becoming part of the avant-garde crowd, Suzanne Malherbe & Lucy Schwob found freedom of expression by creating art using various mediums. As Hitler rises to power they move to Jersey hoping their lifestyle would be safer there.

This book was a little dry and although their story was compelling, parts of the book dragged.

I’ve been told there is a fictional account of Suzanne & Lucy, which is much more imaginative and emotionally satisfying; Never Anyone But You by Rupert Thomson.

[Kat · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am hooked on World War II history from the women’s perspective. It is amazing to me after all these years, we are learning so much about women and their contribution to the defeat of fascism.

In the past few years it seems there have been myriad stories of women spies and this particular book has some tremendous twists on that genre. Art and LGBTQ combine for a fresh historical perspective. I was fascinated.

Four stars. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC in exchange for an unbiased review.

[Zack Rearick · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this. It's a compelling historical and human interest story, first and foremost: queer women, formerly of the Parisian avant-garde art scene, surviving and resisting Nazi occupation in the Channel Islands. Beyond that, it's a fascinating exploration of art as a tool for resistance, and thought-provoking in that it will leave you reflecting on whether/how each of us should apply our own skills and talents for larger causes. I particularly loved the moments of levity, when the humor and wit of Lucy and Suzanne really shines through at its biting and subversive best. 4.5? This is one that I'll think about for a while, and probably continue to unpack through its many layers.

[Sophiam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Paper Bullets is a wonderful book. It is beautifully written and engaging for a history book. Jackson puts you there and keeps the action moving along at a good pace. Lucy and Suzanne left behind a wealth of information giving us perspectives, before, during, and after the war that provide a multi-angled and complete picture. They had convictions and stuck to them. A work to be proud of all around.

[Rachel McAllister · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought their story was really cool. And I love the photography included as well. The middle felt a bit long and I wish there was more inclusion of Suzanne’s writing in her words. But overall really interesting story!

[Carol Tilley · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5

[Joann · Rating 4 out of 5]

A compelling read about Lucy Schwob and Suzanne Malherbe who became war resistors on the island of Jersey during the time of the German occupation.

[Marie (UK) · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didnt feel that the author truly captured the people, time or place

[J.J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve read a lot on the Jewish persecution during WW2, many times having mentions of Hitler also rounded up homosexuals, artists, and other non aryans. This is the story of two artist politically left women passing as sisters and their survival during the war. Adds a lot to the perspectives of the Fuhrer’s “othering” of non approved people.

[Lisa of Hopewell]

I learned of this book here: https://news.artnet.com/art-world/202...

[Michele Millington · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting read about two women who challenged the norms of society and used their intelligence to combat the Nazi occupation of their homeland.

[Ddoddmccue · Rating 2 out of 5]

There is a rich growing history of women in the Resistance - across nationalities and across war-turn Europe- meeting tremendous physical, strategic, and emotional challenges. ( American Virginia Hill , later the first woman CIA agent, had lost a leg but still served two Residence services , parachuting into France several times, and surviving a winter escape across the Pyrenees.)

Historian Jackson adds to this literature by highlighting the wartime activities of Lucy Scheob/Claude Cajun and Suzanne Malherbe/Marcel Moore, two wealthy French artists. While an interesting account, their actions pale in comparison. Yes, they did resist the occupying Germans by leaving provocative messages ( paper ballets) to demoralize soldiers on their Jersey isle. Yes, they did experience imprisonment and were sentenced to death but spared by timing. But, unlike other accounts of women in the Resistance, the degree of dedication to a higher cause and selflessness is not convincingly displayed.

The couple were a privileged lesbian artists, achieving a high profile in recent decades for their photographic art (often credited to their male names). While they did use their writing- in the form of short typed notes from The Unnamed Soldier) , the pair had historically taken risks and challenged rules. Strong evidence for political or humanitarian motives are not well supported. Additionally, the repeated inference of descriptions of one of the artists is that of one of a selfish, troubled woman of privilege. And while much space is devoted to their imprisonment, they were spared the torture and horrors of the defiant on The Continent.

The author did his best. Primary resources by the artists themselves is limited at best, although historic photographs support some of the narrative, However, whether this justifies a book is questionable.

[Aryn · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are many books about the valiant resistance efforts in Nazi occupied territories, especially those (appropriately) lauded heroes who helped save individuals from the Holocaust and members of organized groups dedicated to intelligence gathering and sabotage. Paper Bullets is a story of quieter, but highly effective resistance. Lucy Schwob and Suzanne Malherbe lived on the island of Jersey, and created their own psychological warfare campaign against the Nazis who occupied the British Channel Islands. Posing as disillusioned German soldiers, they wrote notes and messages encouraging soldiers to give up fighting, think of their own families back in Germany, and return home. Their campaign was successful enough to attract the eye of the secret field police, and landed them in prison and facing a court martial with a potential death sentence. The resistance effort by the couple is the focus of the book, but it also provides a look at the avant garde art world in Paris between the wars.

The book was interesting, but focused more on the avant garde art dimension of Schwob and Malherbe’s lives than I anticipated. It was occasionally a bit dry, but overall a solid read.