Illustrations (other)
Scene from Goodness in Small Doses - "They sent us to stay with a couple who lived at Bonnieux-sur-Sonnette, a pretty village that straggled upwards across the flank of a hill, with little pockets of houses that sought to find shelter against the winds that whipped across the region. Lucette and Marcelin Brissault lived in a tall house at the bottom of the valley, a delightful location to a girl such as myself who had been raised in the city."
Another scene from Goodness in Small Doses - Note that the narrator is a young girl with cerebral palsy, hence the difficulty pronouncing words clearly :
"Let's go," Félix told us, and I climbed into the seat of the Renault car beside papa who was sitting next to Félix.
"Wh….y… ca…all B… bou…le?" The "b" always caused me difficulties. Félix smiled as he looked over at me.
"It's just the name of the car. It's actually called a Celtaquatre, but it's popularly known as a Celtaboule, or just 'Boule', I think because of its rounded shape. This one is an older model, I think it was first produced in 1935. It's been around."
Although still quite posh looking, it had a number of dents and pockmarks along its carrosserie.
"And the German's haven't commandeered it, obviously," papa remarked.
Félix shook his head. "Not yet, although, as you heard, they are already on the prowl for car parts. I'm sure cars such as this one will follow soon. Until then, I plan to get as much use as I can out of it."
And another from Goodness in Small Doses :
"Saturday arrived. The wedding was to be held in the afternoon, which meant the crossings were timed for the period around noon. This meant the border guards might be distracted with the midday meal as well. Lucette had found us some good clothes to wear… Papa was dressed smartly too, although he looked less dapper than serious, and his suit was slightly worn around the edges. For me they had found a pale beige pinafore dress – not the best choice for my dark hair, but I suppose it allowed me to blend in more readily…. Papa also insisted on carrying me on his shoulder – it made the awkwardness of my movements slightly less obvious to a casual glance, although it also made us stand out from the crowd. We were to be visiting cousins, which would explain why the border guards had never seen us before, but we came from the next department, up near Poitiers, and our papers reflected such an origin."
A scene from Incarnations of Evil :
"There appeared to be ten graves on each side. These were not small grave stones, but rather flat rectangles of grey marble, about two meters across and four deep. They were actually made from three plinthed stones, rising by roughly a centimeter in two paliers towards the back. Behind each of these flat monuments was a sign « Mogila zbiorowa no. 3 », with numbers 1 to 10 on one side (the right side), and 11 to 20 on the other (left side, facing the monuments at the end). « Mogila zbiorowa » meant « mass grave ». There was a peace that reigned over the entire site - while we were there, the sunlight poured through the trees in columns of visible light."
A scene from These White Shadows :
"They lived in a small village on the flank of the Oros Kedros, one of the central mountains of the Island of Crete. Lupe spent his time scrambling about the slopes along with the sheep and the goats, and a few other children... Late in the war, in mid 1944, the Kedros villages were targeted by the Germans - nine villages on the flanks of Mount Kedros. Most of these were on the eastern side of the mountain, but one was around the corner, on the western slope. This was where Lupe lived with his father. The villagers themselves were rounded up, the men separated from the women and children, under pretext that they were being taken away as a work force, but they were lined up and shot instead. Then the houses and the church were doused with petrolium and set fire to. By the time Lupe came along, however, the village had been partially rebuilt."