Read the foreword of my new historic novel : "A broken life transformed"

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Foreword In the Footsteps of History and Memory My wife and I spent the summer of 2018 in Saint-Germain-de-Calberte, in the Cévennes. It was there, in the heart of these wild landscapes steeped in history, that the idea for this novel was born. Seven years of documentary research were necessary to reconstruct, through the prism of fiction, the decade 1938-1948, between Luxembourg and France, and its upheavals for ordinary lives caught up in the turmoil of war. This book is primarily intended for a lay audience. At a time when anti-Semitic acts and words are resurfacing in France, it seemed essential to me to recall, through the fate of David Schleck, the hero of this novel, the murderous madness of Nazism inspired by Hitler's clear desire to annihilate the Jewish people. How can we not recognize in each victim of this barbarity a human being, our equal in rights and dignity?

The spark came from a hike along the Flandonenque trail. Discovering the hamlets of Flandres and Nozières, then a mill with gushing waters, piqued my curiosity. Imagine my surprise when I came across panels recounting the history of the Montaigne group, composed of some forty German, Spanish, and Luxembourgish anti-fascists… A resistance movement as atypical as it was heroic. The battles of the Picharlerie resistance school and the epic tale of the Lozère Resistance also greatly inspired me later on.

As for Luxembourg, it emerged as a natural setting after discovering the story of a Luxembourgish family who took refuge in Saint-Germain-de-Calberte, the originators of the "Lozère" cologne.

I wanted to write this novel like a cinematic script: visual rhythm, twists, and dramatic turns. A sports enthusiast, I made my hero a top-level athlete, immersing the reader in the excitement of the 1938 European Championship from the very first pages. And as in every novel, there is a love story that I will let you discover.

This book is also an ode to the Protestant Cévennes. The majority of Protestants in the Cévennes did not subscribe to the anti-Semitism instilled by Vichy and maintained a fraternal stance throughout the war. Finally, I invite you to discover Florence's treasure, David's spiritual questioning, and this quest for meaning which, beyond the horrors of war, reminds us that humanity can always rise from its ashes.