Sydney Writers' Festival speakers". Archived from the original on 13 May 2012 . Retrieved 22 May 2012. Once liberation comes the story is far from over. All of the women who survived, no matter how, now had to face the future--for some a very short future, with death the result of trials that found them guilty of treason, or the result of illness and weakness resulting from years spent at the hands of brutal German imprisonment. Yet, others lived into their nineties and they, too, found their future shadowed by the years of the war and its aftermath. Since working as a correspondent for Reuters, [3] Sebba has written for The Times, The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph, The Spectator, Times Higher Education Supplement and The Independent. [4] She has been cited as an authority on biography. [5]

Les Parisiennes: How the Women of Paris Lived, Loved and Died Les Parisiennes: How the Women of Paris Lived, Loved and Died

Sebba, Anne (1 June 1996). "The story they didn't want to tell". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 7 May 2022 . Retrieved 26 September 2009. With illustrations by Lucille Michieli, this really is a lovely role play gift for that special occasion. This is a sweeping tour of the choices and life-paths of women under the German Occupation of Paris during World 2. Some are the few heroines we recognize from books and film who helped hide Jews or joined a Resistance network. Others are emblematic courtesans, entertainers, and war profiteers who forged self-serving connections with the new masters, including ones who spied and informed on Resistance activities, facilitated the roundup of Jews for internment, or reaped profits from the appropriation of their businesses, homes, and treasures. Between these poles were the vast majority of Parisian women who took a wait-and-see attitude, just trying to get along and find enough income for food and shelter. So many figures and their stories that they tend to blur together, but the collective does provide a fascinating journalistic portrait of a city under duress and themes of resilience and diverging modes of adaptation to the Occupation in its successive phases, well illustrated, indexed, and footnoted. Just don’t expect a penetrating historical analysis of causes and effects For me it was an excellent companion read to Sebastian Faulks’ recent novel “Paris Echo”, whose lead character pursues the history of women in Paris during the German Occupation. Like that book, with its highlighting of a woman who betrays a Resistance leader and his network out of personal jealousy, Seba’s collage helped me take a less judgmental attitude of those who ended up engaging in varying degrees of collaboration.

In the aftermath of the war, the book goes on to tell the tale of what happened next, and this makes very interesting reading, as people are brought to account for their actions. Raising big questions of whether everyone should be blamed for their actions, particularly when these women were practically left to fend for themselves amongst the enemy. Les Parisiennes are a beautiful and very elegant collection of rag dolls, easily recognisable by their stylish outfits, smiley faces and velour hair.

Les Parisiennes - Moulin Roty Les Parisiennes - Moulin Roty

Sebba has included a very helpful 'cast' list of all of the women whom she writes about in Les Parisiennes. These women are variously actresses, the wives of diplomats, students, secret agents, writers, models, and those in the resistance movement, amongst others. She has assembled a huge range of voices, which enable her to build up a full and varied picture of what life in Occupied Paris was like. Rather than simply end her account when the German troops leave, Sebba has chosen to write about two further periods: 'Liberation (1944-1946)', and 'Reconstruction (1947-1949)'. Les Parisiennes is, in consequence of a great deal of research, a very personal collective history. The lives of the victims are portrayed vividly, and highlights the aftermath for them. An experience that no one could ever put aside.Sebba's books have been translated into several languages including French, Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese, Russian, Polish, Czech and Chinese. And perhaps the answer is as simple as that – which is why, in the end, Sebba doesn’t offer an explanation as to why some women chose one course, others another, rightly letting their actions, compelling life stories – and the physiognomy of the wonderful selection of photographs – speak for themselves.