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1942, 2000s: ‘My darling girl, I need you to find someone for me . . .’
The Schoolteacher of Saint Michel
What you need to know before your trail
France, 1942. At the end of the day, the schoolteacher releases her pupils. She checks they have their identity passes, and warns them not to stop until the German guards have let them through the barrier that separates occupied France from Free France. As the little ones fly across the border and into their mothers’ arms, she breathes a sigh of relief. No one is safe now. Not even the children.
Berkshire, present day. A letter left to her by her beloved late grandmother Gigi takes Hannah Stone on a journey deep into the heart of the Dordogne landscape. As she begins to unravel a forgotten history of wartime bravery and sacrifice, she discovers the heartrending secret that binds her grandmother to a village schoolteacher, the remarkable Lucie Laval . . .
Locations
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Discover the Dordogne with a school teacher from Saint Michel
The author was sitting in a friends garden in the Dordogne when she got the idea for this story. She was keen to explore the region and how it coped during wartime. The local chateau was taken over by the Germans as their HQ.
The novel is set in fictional St Michel in the Dordogne although there are several places this could be. The house which was gifted to the local baker for example is in the village of Chevral and the fictional village is located close by. The baker got the house for his bravery when he hid messages in baguettes that were than smuggled across the demarcation line.
Brantome is the village here a doctor hid Jewish children in a sanatorium for TB which the germans avoided for obvious reasons.
BookTrail Boarding Pass: The Schoolteacher of Saint-Michel
Destination/location: Dordogne Author/guide: Sarah Steele Departure Time:1940s
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