Harrowing, haunting, tragic and heart-breaking. These are just a handful of words that describe The Secret Photograph by Siobhan Curham. I loved it. I cannot describe fully how Siobhan’s books make me feel, but I always close the book and wonder about how such monsters could have existed in the twentieth century.
Although a work of fiction, this latest stunner from Siobhan is based on real-life events and told from two viewpoints across two timelines. One is from Clarisse in the 1940s and the other....well I’m not telling you who tells the other story because I didn’t realise (as I’m sure was the intention) until at least halfway through the book, but it is told from someone living in France in the mid-eighties.
The work of everyone in the Resistance amazes me. How so many people put their lives on the line, day after day, to bring knowledge to the world about the atrocities of war and to try to bring justice for their country is incredible. There were also so many roles to play, I would never have thought a photographer would have been so beneficial and just goes to show that guns weren’t necessarily the only weapons.
If you’re interested in learning so much more about the Second World War than your teachers ever taught you, then pick up a copy of Siobhan’s latest book and immerse yourself in wartime France.
Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for the opportunity to read and review The Secret Photograph by Siobhan Curham.
About the Book
Nazi-occupied Paris, 1942. Clarisse clutches her camera as hundreds of police swarm the streets. Through her lens she spots a terrified brown-eyed little girl being carried screaming into a truck, her yellow star hanging crooked from her threadbare coat. Clarisse rushes forward to help, but the truck pulls away…
With a fake name written on the papers in her pocket, American photographer Clarisse Alarie knows the dangers of Paris better than most. Haunted by the sight of children being dragged away and carrying a photograph of the brown-eyed little girl everywhere she goes, Clarisse is desperate to make a difference. Meeting handsome resistance fighter Louis is her chance…
Louis introduces Clarisse to Café Capoulade and his underground network of brave men and women fighting tirelessly to end the occupation. Soon, Clarisse is risking her life every day. Taking photographs of the terror that has overcome the beautiful city, Clarisse follows members of the Gestapo and hides in plain sight in order to gather evidence of their terrible crimes.
But Clarisse soon learns of the over-crowded cattle cars leaving Paris carrying even the smallest children, bound for an unspeakably terrible place… Is she already too late to rescue the little girl with the brown eyes? And when Louis himself is arrested, will Clarisse risk everything the network has worked so hard for to save them both?
Set around true historical events that shook the world, The Secret Photograph is asweeping and utterly gripping wartime tale of courage and resilience in the face of unimaginable terror. Fans of The Alice Network, The Nightingale and Soraya M. Lane will be totally hooked.
About Siobhan
Siobhan Curham is an award-winning author, ghost writer, editor and writing coach. She has also written for many newspapers, magazines and websites, including The Guardian, Breathe magazine, Cosmopolitan, Writers’ Forum, DatingAdvice.com, and Spirit & Destiny. Siobhan has been a guest on various radio and TV shows, including Woman’s Hour, BBC News, GMTV and BBC Breakfast. And she has spoken at businesses, schools, universities and literary festivals around the world, including the BBC, Hay Festival, Cheltenham Festival, Bath Festival, Ilkley Festival, London Book Fair and Sharjah Reading Festival.
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