Includes Reader's Guide with topics & questions for discussion and a conversation with Anita Abriel.
Summary:
"Paris 1943, Lana Antanov is on her way to see her husband, Frederic with news that she is pregnant. As she arrives at the convent where Frederic teaches piano, she watches in horror as Gestapo officers execute Frederic for hiding a Jewish girl in the piano. Lana is overcome with grief. That evening, she loses the baby. A few months later, Lana is approached by a member of the resistance to serve as a spy on the French Riviera. Lana is a "White Russian," the daughter of a Russian countess, making her ideal to infiltrate the emigre community of Russian aristocrats who socialize with German officers. The Gestapo officer in charge, Alois Brunner, the same man who shot Frederic, is intent on exterminating all the Jews. Her cover story makes her the mistress of a wealthy Swiss industrialist named Guy Pascal, in whose villas she stays . Their information-gathering at parties allows them to thwart several raids, helping members of the Jewish population escape to North Africa. But Lana doesn't count on becoming attached to a young Jewish girl named Odette, who has just lost her father. Nor does she intend to feel an attraction to Guy so soon after the loss of her husband. As the Nazis efforts intensify, her desire to protect those around her may instead put them all at risk"-- Provided by publisher.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.