Why am I passionate about this?

My grandfather joined the French Resistance in his early twenties in 1942. He told me his story when I was a teenager, which has had a lasting effect on me. I have since taught college students about the French Resistance and published on the way it has been depicted in films, TV series, novels, and comics since 1942. My book Revisiting the French Resistance will appeal to those interested in the relationship between history and fiction, and/or who enjoy stories of ordinary, yet exemplary individuals who at some point of history have felt compelled to say “no” to a situation deemed unacceptable.  


I wrote

Revisiting the French Resistance in Cinema, Literature, Bande Dessinée, and Television (1942–2012)

By Christophe Corbin,

Book cover of Revisiting the French Resistance in Cinema, Literature, Bande Dessinée, and Television (1942–2012)

What is my book about?

This book examines the relationships between popular culture and collective memory to offer a key to understanding France’s national identity…

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of Silence of the Sea / Le Silence de la Mer

Christophe Corbin Why did I love this book?

An iconic Resistance novel today, The Silence of the Sea was written at a time when the French Resistance was yet to be invented, and was published clandestinely in 1942. The first work of fiction ever written about the Resistance, and one of the most beautiful, without a doubt. The story of a forbidden love between a German officer and a French woman who was forced to house him, Vercors’ story was meant to entice his fellow citizens to refuse a situation deemed unacceptable. There is no sabotage, explosions, or as traditionally understood acts of heroism, only an invitation to save whatever could be saved. A story of honor and dignity, universal and timeless. 

By James W. Brown (editor), Lawrence D. Stokes (editor), Cyril Connelly (translator)

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Silence of the Sea / Le Silence de la Mer as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

This first bilingual edition of France's most enduring wartime novel introduces Vercors's famous tale to a generation without personal experience of World War II who may not be able to read it in its original language. Now available in paperback, readers are assisted with a historical and literary introduction, explanatory notes, a glossary of French terms and a select bibliography.


Book cover of Army of Shadows

Christophe Corbin Why did I love this book?

Usually known in its film adaptation, Army of Shadows is certainly the most comprehensive novel about the French Resistance. Written in 1943 by one of the best novelists and journalists of the twentieth century, based on facts, it offers a kaleidoscopic view of the diverse participants of a movement sometimes considered as a monolithic entity. All of the veteran Resistance fighters I have had the chance to meet agreed that it was their favorite novel about the Resistance.   

By Joseph Kessel, Rainer J. Hanshe (translator),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Army of Shadows as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

THIS IS THE TRUTH, THOUGH THE FORM IS FICTION…

The terrible and inspiring truth about the French underground, the way it’s men and women operate, fight, die, a story full of nobility, heroism, and brutal violence.

First published in its English translation in 1944, this is the fictionalized account of French writer Joseph Kessel’s own experiences as a member of the French Resistance in World War II.


Book cover of Outwitting the Gestapo

Christophe Corbin Why did I love this book?

The memoirs of freedom fighter Lucie Aubrac were written in a form of a diary kept during the nine months of her pregnancy during which, in addition to teaching history and raising her first child, the Resistance heroine managed to free her husband from the hands of the “Butcher of Lyons,” Gestapo officer Klaus Barbie, before flying to London to join the French Free Forces. A beautiful love story of a couple caught in the meshes of history and one of the very few personal accounts by and about a woman to shed light on a blind spot of history

By Lucie Aubrac, Konrad Bieber (translator), Betsy Wing (translator)

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Outwitting the Gestapo as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Lucie Aubrac (1912-2007), of Catholic and peasant background, was teaching history in a Lyon girls' school and newly married to Raymond, a Jewish engineer, when World War II broke out and divided France. The couple, living in the Vichy zone, soon joined the Resistance movement in opposition to the Nazis and their collaborators. Outwitting the Gestapo is Lucie's harrowing account of her participation in the Resistance: of the months when, though pregnant, she planned and took part in raids to free comrades-including her husband, under Nazi death sentence-from the prisons of Klaus Barbie, the infamous Butcher of Lyon. Her book…


Book cover of The Black Terrorist

Christophe Corbin Why did I love this book?

The Black Terrorist recounts the singular trajectory of Addi Bâ from French Guinea who arrived in France in 1938, enlisted in 1939, was taken prisoner almost immediately, escaped in 1940 and joined the Resistance in the Vosges mountains. One of the very few books or films to focus on the role played by a colonized person fighting for the colonizing power that had subjugated his people. A journey between the small-mindedness and cowardice of some and the humanity and courage of others. 

By Tierno Monénembo, C. Dickson (translator),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Black Terrorist as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The Black Terrorist is a fictional account built around the true, extraordinary, but little-known story of Addi Bâ. Addi Bâ was born in Guinea about 1916, brought to France in the late 1930s, and became a riflemen in the Twelfth Regiment de Tirailleurs Sénégalais (African soldiers from French colonies) fighting for France during World War II. Captured after the Battle of the Meuse, Addi escapes from German forces, wanders in the forests, before finding refuge in a village in the Vosges, where he encounters the French Resistance and becomes a leader of a Resistance network. However, Addi is captured, tortured,…


Book cover of In Our Strange Gardens

Christophe Corbin Why did I love this book?

A clown shows up at the trial of Maurice Papon for crimes against humanity. What is he doing there? Written half a century after WWII, In Our Strange Gardens invites its readers to go beyond a black-and-white tinted version of the German Occupation of France. Heroes are not heroic, and the enemy is not always a villain. The story of a man who was embarrassed by his clowning father as kid before learning about his past during the war, In Our Strange Gardens is also a lesson of the power of derision in the face of tragedy. 

By Michel Quint,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked In Our Strange Gardens as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In Our Strange Gardens was named a BookSense 76 Recommended Pick for January 2002!

Michel has a story to tell. It's about his father, an exquisitely common man whose very ordinariness is a source of grave embarrassment for the boy. It's also the story told to him by his uncle, who shared a family secret with the child in the flickering black and white images of a Sunday matinee.

Years before, in the bitter years of World War II, during the Nazi occupation of France, two brothers found themselves at the mercy of a German guard following an explosive act…


Explore my book 😀

Revisiting the French Resistance in Cinema, Literature, Bande Dessinée, and Television (1942–2012)

By Christophe Corbin,

Book cover of Revisiting the French Resistance in Cinema, Literature, Bande Dessinée, and Television (1942–2012)

What is my book about?

This book examines the relationships between popular culture and collective memory to offer a key to understanding France’s national identity and psyche. Themes discussed include the making of the myth of an honorable country united against a common enemy, comedies satirizing this mythology and fictional works debunking it, the invisibility and resurfacing of women in films and novels, as well as contemporary depictions of the Resistance on television. Case studies include sometimes forgotten or lesser-known works such as Aragon’s wartime poetry, early films such as Mr. Orchid or Casablanca-inspired Fortunat, iconic films and novels such as The Silence of the Sea or Lacombe Lucien, but also contemporary fictional works such as In Our Strange Gardens and A Self-Made Hero, and the popular TV series A French Village

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Book cover of Girl of Light

Elana Gomel Author Of Nine Levels

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Why am I passionate about this?

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What is my book about?

A girl of Light in a world of darkness.

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Girl of Light

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A voice through Svetlana's mirror guides her beloved MotherLand from behind its' electric tower. The war with Wulfstan is not going as well as Sveta and her parents hope, but Sveta trusts the Voice. When her best friend Tattie goes missing, and Sveta saves Andrei, a soldier in summer uniform in the dead of winter, it takes Sveta through a crucible of Light, doubt, and back to the altar of true belief. Girl of Light unravels Sveta's beloved MotherLand in a war-torn adventure through monsters, missing eyes and broken mirrors.

Girl of Light is a dark fantasy with a Slavic…


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Interested in the French Resistance, France, and the Gestapo?

France 936 books
The Gestapo 30 books