by Etta Shiber ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 20, 1943

This is one of the most exciting true-stories of the war. Mrs. Shiber was an American living in Paris. She might have let the war go by her if it had not been for Kitty Bonnefaus, an Englishwoman, married to a Frenchman, impulsive and deeply stirred by Dunkirk and its aftermath. It started with the finding of an English aviator on the refugee road from Paris; they smuggled him back in their car compartment and eventually got him out of the country. Next came two hospital prisoners, whose escape Kitty engineered with Mrs. Shiber's reluctant assistance. And it ended with the liberation of 100 Englishmen, through contracts made by an advertisement in a German-controlled newspaper, and in collaboration with a French priest and M. Chancel. Ultimately, Mrs. Shiber was arrested -- imprisoned -- grilled by the Gestapo-released only to get a line on Kitty, who was more elusive -- until all were finally seized and tried. Kitty received the death sentence; Mrs. Shiber a three year prison term. There is an absorbing account here of her prison stay, of an Alsatian stool pigeon, of hardships, etc. At last, she was exchanged for the famous Nazi red-headed spy, Johanna Hoffman, and came back to America on the Drottingholm. It's a grand yarn and extremely well told. Too bad it has such a forbidding title.

Pub Date: Sept. 20, 1943

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Scribner

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1943

Categories: NONFICTION