- Book Topics
- World War II
- Holocaust
- Vichy Government
- Marshall Petain
- Septfonds
- Auschwitz-Birkenau
- Vel D'Hiver
- Le Marais
- Shoah Memorial
- Primo Levi
- Leon Poliakov
- Elie Wiesel
- Romain Gary
- Timothy Snyder
The Spiral Shell
What began as a literary research project became an unexpected rediscovery of identity and faith. In this haunting memoir, Sandell Morse uncovers long silenced stories of bravery and resistance among the civilians of a small town in France during WWII, and in finds deeper meaning and understanding of her own Jewish heritage. In this year that marks the 80th anniversary of the fall of France to Nazi Germany, and the formation of the Vichy government, whose ultimate goal was to deport all French Jews to extermination camps, this memoir harkens back to this harrowing time as she gradually unearths long buried secrets of Jewish resistance against the Nazi occupiers, and learns of numerous accounts of bravery and selfless acts of those who chose to fight against bigotry, oppression, and genocide.
Links to Reviews
- Book Topics
- World War II
- Holocaust
- Vichy Government
- Marshall Petain
- Septfonds
- Auschwitz-Birkenau
- Vel D'Hiver
- Le Marais
- Shoah Memorial
- Primo Levi
- Leon Poliakov
- Elie Wiesel
- Romain Gary
- Timothy Snyder
Reviews and Comments
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The Spiral Shell is an evocative, probing, heartfelt memoir, as rich in character and detail as the best fiction. injunction There are all kinds of reckonings here: personal, historical, spiritual. There is a vivid present as well as a vividly imagined past, a voice that is at turns charming, grieving, outraged and wry. Sandell Morse illuminates with wisdom and grace Eli Wiesel’s timeless that, “For the dead and the living, we must bear witness.”
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The Spiral Shell depicts two vivid journeys, one inward, as Sandell Morse explores her own identity as a Jew and one outward, as she pieces together the history of French Jews under the Vichy government. Each journey is fraught with reversals, full of unexpected details and betrayals at many levels… This is a necessary, illuminating and beautifully intelligent memoir.
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The Spiral Shell’s strength lies in what Morse pieced together about a village under occupation… Stories such as the remarkable ones she has unearthed are really the only way of doing it.
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It was a pleasure to read Sandell Morse’s debut memoir. It’s a sort of that family detective story so many of us know…that provides much more than just answers. Elegant, erudite, passionate, I congratulate her on seeing this book through to print.