French Writer Recalls Youth in Vichy France

Jean Eugene Havel, the author of “The Five Sisters: A Young Norman in the Second World War” (Melrose Books , 2014), was born and raised in Normandy. He enjoyed an idyllic youth in Norman soil, and when the Germans invaded Normandy, he not only witnessed a reign of terror but also endured the hardships of the German military administration.
 
Havel’s memoir “The Five Sisters” includes accounts of the author’s wartime experiences in his hometown of Le Havre, turned into a fortress by the occupying army, setting into motion the reign of terror they had carried out in the rest of mainland Europe. Local Spaniards, Jews, and gypsies were sent to Germany; anyone listening to British broadcasts was meted the death penalty; and worse, the Germans infiltrated and occupied the locals’ homes, including that of the author’s family.
 
“The Five Sisters” is one of the most moving accounts on the European Theatre of World War II. More than just a memoir of a Frenchman who witnessed the German hegemony first hand, it is also the story of Vichy France.
 
Havel’s “The Five Sisters: A Young Norman in the Second World War” is one of the many memoirs and autobiographies that will be displayed at the upcoming 2017 Book Expo America on June 1 to 3, 2017.
 
“The Five Sisters: A Young Norman in the Second World War”
Written by Jean Eugene Havel 
Published by Melrose Books 
Published date: July 25, 2014           
 
About the Author
 
JEAN EUGÈNE HAVEL is the author of over a dozen books written in French, a number of which have been translated into second and third languages. Havel claims that, “Andersen, Homer, and the Arab story-tellers made me understand our great adventure on the sea under the skies,” but that it was the Second World War which made him understand the importance of the individual human being, peace, liberty, and democracy and it has been these values which have driven his writing. Havel holds a doctorate from the Institute of Scandinavian Studies and has spent much of his later adulthood living and teaching in Ontario, Canada. “The Five Sisters” is his first book written in English.

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