I adore Frances Parkinson Keyes and her stories told during war time. This one is copyrighted 1947 and takes place during WWII. Every character's emotion becomes my own. I was brought up patriotic and so I especially appreciate the insight she provides into the thinking and feelings of each character.
I learned about Hitler, the concentration camps, Hiroshima and the Normandy Invasion. I've seen "The Sound of Music" and read The Diary of Anne Frank. There were members of my family who were POWs in the Battle of the Bulge. One of them, an uncle, had all of his finger nails forcefully removed. Another, my boyfriend's step-grandfather, would not talk about his time as a POW. I wonder if the two knew each other?
Came A Cavalier threw me into the ugly midst of what I'd only heard termed "occupation." I'd never before imagined how years of forced occupation must have been, but now I feel like I know. Imagine your Von Trapp Villa-sized home being taken over by ruthless, careless enemies. Your portraits, decor, furniture, all disregarded, trashed and desecrated without a second thought. Imagine being forced to share your home with Nazi beasts for years, you and anyone in your employ given no option but to clear as much space for them as they demanded, and to provide food for them while your own family fed on meager rations, your gardens and farms destroyed by the same brutes now demanding to be cared for. Will there even be anything to eat in a year?
What must it have been like to be under constant threat of punishment for anything the enemy deemed as punishable, knowing any such act could result in the execution of anyone else the Nazis felt should be used to be made an example of. God bless them now and keep them in His care.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frances_Parkinson_Keyes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6j376yOlm4
http://www.centralpaww2roundtable.org/
http://www.courant.com/entertainment/arts-theater/hc-ivan-backer-book-freedom-train-0126-20160125-story.html
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