First published 2019
Varian Fry stands in the ancient stone house of Marc and Bella Chagall in Gordes, France, trying to convince the famous painter that Europe has become a death trap. The Harvard-educated American journalist arrived in Marseille in 1940 with three thousand dollars and a list of imperiled artists and writers he planned to rescue in a few weeks. Thirteen months later, he remains in France, operating under cover of a relief organization to forge documents, gather emergency funds, and run an underground railroad through the Pyrenees to Spain and safety in Lisbon. His clients include philosopher Hannah Arendt, novelist Franz Werfel, surrealist André Breton, and artists Max Ernst, Marcel Duchamp, and Marc Chagall. Each rescue attempt puts Fry deeper into danger as Nazi forces tighten their grip on occupied territory. The novel follows his desperate race against time to save Europe's cultural treasures before the Holocaust consumes them.
Genres: literary-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, war
Vibes: atmospheric, emotional, suspenseful
Tropes: against-the-odds, race-against-time
Setting: Marseille, France, Gordes, Pyrenees, Spain, Lisbon
Period: 1940, World War II
1 pages · Audio CD · Recorded Books, Inc. and Blackstone Publishing
Content warnings: war