Rosie's War: An Englishwoman's Escape From Occupied France

by Noel Holland, Noel Holland

This is the extraordinary true story of a plucky young woman and her dramatic escape from a German-run internment camp in Occupied France. Written in Rosemary's own words and completed by her daughter and son-in-law after her death, it includes photographs and documents from Rosie's incredible journey. Rosie's story moves from artistic circles in Avignon, through occupied Paris and the privations of prison camp, and across war-ravaged Europe. A tale of remarkable courage: not only of Rosie herself, but also of the many people who helped and harboured her at huge personal risk. Rosie's story sheds light on the little-known story of the thousands of British women trapped in Occupied France. Moving, enthralling, and inspirational, 'Rosie's War' is a book for all to enjoy.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, World War II, Holocaust, France, Travel, War

257 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2011

Reviews

[Clare O'Beara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this memoir and the account of how it got to be written up by Rosie's family with her. If someone thought up a plot they would never include a young English au pair deciding to head north to Paris just as the German Army was about to march into the city. Nobody would get on a train heading north and remain on it in full sight of the streams of refugees. Yet misled Rosie, with her heavy suitcases, did and regretted her bravery.

The account of Paris under the conquerors, the interning of British and slightly British people, the wretched life they led and Rosie's gallant escape are riveting reading. Then we get a contrast with Spain and Portugal, and find out how much effort Rosie's family had gone through to try to find her. I didn't know that Thomas Cook travel agency was generally agreed to be suitable for booking everyone's tickets, papers, reuniting them with baggage and so forth.

Rosie never pretends to be a heroic agent or warrior; she represents the civilian caught up in world-shattering events not of her making. Anyone researching the war in Europe will find this essential reading; and anyone looking for an unusual historical memoir will be delighted to find this well-written account.
I bought this paperback in Dublin. This is an unbiased review.

[Noel Holland]

As I wrote the book I can't rate it but I am very proud of having written it and of my mum for having told me the story.

[Hermien · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable, it has a real feel of the English stiff upper lip about it. Interesting that Rosie considered her experience at boarding school as a valuable preparation for life in a prison camp!

[Joy Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a non-fiction story about Rosemary Say, but it's co-written by Noel Holland (the writing team of Noel Fursman and Julia Holland, Rosemary's elder daughter); they've done a fantastic job of writing from Rosemary's point of view. I felt as if I was listening to her recount her adventures from when she left her home in England and journeyed to France. Since this is just before World War II, you can bet she's in for an exciting and dangerous time.

The book is broken up into time periods--from January 1939 to March 1942. She starts in France as an au pair and works her way through France to Paris and beyond, including German prison camps (the Nazis even rounded up people with only the scantiest ties to England), before she finally escapes. I learned a lot about the times and places and the desperate refugees fleeing the oncoming Germans.

This book includes so much history, but also we meet the people and get a glimpse into their hard decisions and risks. The French people--and others--helped hide escapees. People took many risks in the German prison camps also, and the Red Cross helped prisoners survive. I learned so much from her story, and I think some will identify with Rosemary's desire to escape from home and find a more exciting life....

[David Highton · Rating 3 out of 5]

A war memoir written 50 years later about a young British au pair trapped in occupied France after the German invasion in 1940. Incredibly, having been an au pair to a family in Avignon since January 1939, she goes back to London for her twenty first birthday in March 1940 - still in the phoney war period - and then returns to Avignon, not expecting France to be overrun. Ill-advised by the Consulate in Marseille she goes to Paris and gets trapped, interned and escapes into Vichy France, eventually getting home nearly two years later.

[Emily Perkins · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read purely because it is a historical biography from an English au pair in Avignon during the war lol🫡 niche interests combined ! The Avignon response to the war effort was so painfully Avignon with random festivals and deciding the war was Paris’ problem even in 1940, hope it never changes <3

Not sure I’d actually recommend it isn’t that well written but was very fun to read having lived there

[Ali · Rating 4 out of 5]

I find, I often really enjoy true stories of World War Two. For me they really bring home the realities of a time that I think is hard for us now in the 21st century to properly appreciate. We live in a world now, where everything is known in an instant, where travel is easier and faster than it has ever been. This book – and many like it – remind us of a time when people could go weeks without knowing whether their loved ones were ok, making a phone call or sending a telegram was an involved process and sometimes a costly one during the lean years of 1939 – 1945.

This book – which I think is only available in hardback or kindle edition at the moment – is a hugely readable and enjoyable book. A fairly quick and easy read it is a quite extraordinary story of courage and overcoming adversity. I found myself wondering time and again how I would have coped – as a young twenty two year old, trapped in a terrifying situation – I don’t think I would have done anything like as well as Rosamond (known as Pat) Say did.

Rosie – working in France as an Au Pair – realises in 1940 she has to get out of France fast – unfortunately she receives some poor advice – and finds herself in Paris just as the Germans arrive. She’s a young English woman alone and with little money in a city occupied by her country’s enemy. Around her are people living in fear, collaborators and Germans. After working in a police station for a short time, Rosie is interned as an enemy alien, and sent to a women’s camp. Here she endures horrendous conditions, poor food and sanitation, terrible cold, lice and overcrowding. Later she and the friends she has made are moved to the much nicer camp at Vittel, a camp used for German propaganda – conditions are better with less restrictions – Rosie begins to think of escape. How she escapes and what follows is an amazing mixture of good luck and bravery. Rosie and her friends were a remarkable group of people – and their stories are extremely well told.

Reading this on kindle – I had to wait until I came to the end to examine the pictures that are included – which I would have enjoyed being able to flick to whilst reading – but that is a small point – as at the moment the kindle edition is far cheaper than the hardback. I would certainly recommend this to people who enjoy true life stories from World War Two.

[Puddlyduck · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rosie's War is a fascinating account of a young Englishwoman's struggles in occupied France and her escape from an interment camp during WW2. I enjoyed reading about the experiences from a citizen's point of view - Rosemary was working as an au pair at the time. Her experiences were coloured by her financial status, ethnic background and the support her father and French family was able to provide. The stark differences between two very different internment camps was also incredibly interesting to read about.
This book was written in a very matter of fact tone. Although other readers have said they would've liked more emotion, I thought this suited Rosie's War particularly well. It complimented the authors' introduction about the reliability of memory seen through the lens of emotion, bias and time.

[Alex Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating real life account of ww2 escape

An easy read real life account of one woman's entrapment in France during world war two. Rosemary Say comes across as very young more than anything. Due to this naivity she stubbornly refuses to look beyond her youthful self absorption and see the world collapsing into conflict. I particularly enjoyed the portrayal of Avignon and the seduction of the French way of life, making her stay on long after it was sensible. She was arrested as an alien, inevitably. After that she was a victim of total war and her naivity, if not quite all her self acknowledged self absorption, was stripped away. Her escape makes for gripping reading and is vividly,if sparsely, retold. I thoroughly enjoyed it and found it extremely useful for my research into this incredibly difficult time. Rosemary was brave and cheerful in the most trying of circumstances and surprisingly candid for one of her generation. Recommended reading for anyone interested in an authentic account of
the fate of stranded women in occupied Europe

[Me Christine Crawley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an unusual story in many ways. Rosie was looking for adventure and she certainly found it when she got stranded in France in 1940. Rosie was an au pair in Avignon when war broke in 1939, however as nothing much happened for a few months she didn’t hurry home to England. As France fell to the Nazis, Rosie was advised by the British Consulate to go to Paris and then St. Malo, to get home - this was a huge mistake. In Paris, which was now occupied by Nazis, she was monitored and then arrested, following this she was transferred to an internment camp and then a second internment camp. Eventually she escaped with a friend and began an incredible journey to get home.
I was thoroughly engaged reading this remarkable piece of history. Whilst this is essentially an adult read, ages 13+ will I’m sure enjoy the story too.

[Jonathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I greatly enjoyed this highly readable account of an engaging girl making her way in wartime France. While some reviewers have mentioned Rosie’s naïveté, I found it only surfaced occasionally. Much of what she recounts exemplifies the highly contingent nature of the initial occupation — what would the Germans do after all.... or, faced with a desperate situation when dead tired, she might trust her instincts and boldly go forward.
Rosie was quite resourceful in finding places to stay, food, and work, while staying under the radar of the authorities, and ultimately in forming secure friendships which supported her in the internment camps and then on the run.
Highly enjoyable.

[Julia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nail biting and funny in parts a fantastic read!

[Ruth Walker · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting story of one woman's experiences in France during WWII.

[Clare Ballinger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting personal account of being behind enemy lines and being non military and non Jewish in World War 2.

[Kayle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book does exactly what it says on the tin; it gives you Rose’s War. If you’re looking for a book full of WWII facts, then this isn’t it. However, if you looking for a personal take on how it was to survive those dark days the Rosie is your gal.

Rosemary Say, or Pat as she is affectionately known is a young English girl working as an Au Pair in Avignon, France.

This book recounts Rosie’s story as she is imprisoned in a German Nazi POW camp in occupied France and her subsequent long escape back (through France, Spain and Ireland) to her loving family in England.
This certainly isn’t one of the horror stories you’d expect to read from other war survivors, however, Rosie’s went through her own version of hunger, poverty and survival throughout the book.

I particularly liked the appendices which contain most of the telegrams and letters that are referred to throughout the book, including photographs of Rosie and the various people she met throughout those horrid times on her journey home.

Overall it’s well worth a read.

[Angie Brewer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rosemary Say wasn't a soldier, a spy or a resistance heroine - she was a very young British woman working as an au pair in Avignon when the Germans invaded France, who left it too late to travel home safely. Rosie's War is an account of her attempts to get back to England over the next two years, including periods of internment by the Germans in Besancon and Vittel. This as a truly fascinating story and a very easy read - I read it in two sessions over one weekend. The only downside is that the book is so factual - journalistic almost. There is a calm matter of fact tone describing events without any attempt to relate any of the emotions involved in the proceedings. Whilst this may be part of the culture of Rosemary Says's generation - internment, cold, semi starvation, escape, love and reunion are all described in the straightforward, factual tone of a brave ex-boarding school girl. Rosie's War is truly a story worth telling but, ultimately, the events and lifestyle described don't seem to tally with the voice describing them.

[Jaffareadstoo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rosemary Say was an ordinary 19 year old woman, with dreams of adventure, who on the eve of the Second World War requested to work in Europe. She accepted a position in France to work as an au pair to a French family in Avignon. She was happily settled with her French family, and even though the threat of war was imminent, she disregarded the warning signs until it was too late to get back to England. Advised to try to escape via Paris, she was in the city when the Germans invaded, and unfortunately was rounded up and imprisoned with other enemy aliens in one of the internment camps. Amongst the horror of confinement, and with the unbearable pressure of too many women forced to live together, Rosemary planned her escape. Together with an older friend, and with help from the résistance, she finds her way back to England.


This beautifully written memoir by Rosemary’s daughter and son in law captures the very essence of Rosie’s War and describes just what happened when ordinary people became entangled in extraordinary times.

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I LOVED this book. Rosie's memoirs are quite naive, and she seemed to be oblivious of much of the worst suffering that was going on around her while she was in the camps. She comes across as an incredibly upbeat and positive person, indeed even when she must have been near starving, and freezing in the camp at Besanҫon, she still notes how she liked to exercise and play tennis and other games to keep busy. Rosemary is an extremely likeable character, and although, she was by no means one of the worst off during the war, indeed she landed on her feet a lot, she faces adversity with amazing spirit and even after all was said and done, seems to consider her experiences, just something she went through, and not consider herself to be all that special.

[Johanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

For some reason I am always fascinated by how ordinary people cope in the extrodinary conditions of war. This is a quick read and for that reason its easy to assume that the whole thing is a jolly hockey sticks escapade but that I think is the deceptive effect of the light tone. The story moves from a semi-normal life albeit in a country at war. She then witnesses the German entry into Paris, is interned as an enemy alien and eventully escapes and makes her way through Vichy France to the south and eventually on to Spain and back to Britain. One of the aspects that shines out in this is the selfless support of various French people who put themselves at extreme risk to help both her and other "enemy aliens".

[Daisy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book serves as a fascinating real-life insight into one woman's experiences of the second World War. Rosemary, or 'Pat' as she was more informally known, moved to France before the war to work as an aupair but left it too late to get out of France before the Germans invaded.

The book tells her story of the long journey back home, detailing the horrific conditions in prison and her memories of those who helped her along the way. An interesting read definately, but somewhat lacking in a real emotional conection. Rosie tells the story in a very matter-of-fact way and as a result the reader can't get under her skin and understand how she really felt.

[Linda Humberstone · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a personal account of a young woman who lingered too long in France as war was declared and her escape from an internment camp and struggle to get home to England. For me, the thing that stands out in her story is the unselfish help she received from ordinary people who did not want acknowledgement or reward but simply to help her and her companion. The tedious waiting around for visas and the red tape involved must have been unbearably frustrating along with the fear of making a slip up just at the wrong moment.

[Grace · Rating 4 out of 5]

i wasn't to keen on this book as it was a free be on the kindle so i thought i'd try this!
to darn right i tried and loved it to bits!
this book really did educate me a hell of a lot and i loved the characters in it!
this i think is based on a true story and i cannot believe how much that woman has been through!
love this book although it did faulter in places but it still truly made me love rosie a lot!

[Neal Murphy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fully enjoyed this book as an entertaining read. Add in to the mix that it's a true story and it becomes a recommended read, for me.

Fascinating to read of life in occupied France during WW2 and good to be reminded that the senior people around us often have interesting real life stories to tell.

[Cool · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really interesting true-life story of a British woman who escaped occupied France in the beginnings of WWII. Unlike many other WWII tales I've read, this one actually tells a new, different story. Recommend.

[Eileen Horsfield · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rosie's War

I thoroughly enjoyed this book.It was different to the usual WW2 book that I read and there was not as much suspense. Nether the less It was still a very good read and interesting.

[Lili · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this, however at times the reaction to the horrors of the war seem blasé at times. Perhaps is it because time nulls the bad bits.

[Rob Twinem · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rather plodding..pace did up a little on the great escape so just an ok read :(

[Leaza Cowan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy to read. A story well told without overplaying. Worth reading!

[Just · Rating 4 out of 5]

What an amazing true story of determination to escape from the clutches of the Germans in WWII. A really great read.

[Bee Hoon Tee · Rating 4 out of 5]

brave women