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Flame in the Night: A Novel of World War II France
In occupied France, a teen is torn between hate and love
Julien Losier has just turned eighteen. But this is Vichy France in 1942, and his coming of age is marred by the Nazi occupation of his homeland. His father has always taught him that evil is resisted by the power of God, not by the gun. But when the roundups of Jews begin and both his best friend and the girl he's falling for become targets, Julien must question where real power lies. Can he be a man who protects the people he loves if he follows his father's ways of peace?
His hometown is a fragile fortress where hundreds of Jewish youth hide in plain sight, protected only by the goodwill of their neighbors. Julien takes part in the intricate system of sentries and alert codes that keep them safe, doing what he can to resist the Nazis. As the Germans close in, he can see the moment coming when all the town's careful defenses will fail. He's torn between the faith of his father and his increasing surety that fighting violence with violence is the only way to win. How can the meek inherit the earth when the strong hold all the cards?
Now the young Jewish woman who has captured his heart comes under deadly threat, and there are no good choices. But for Elise, there's nothing Julien won't risk.
Based on actual events in Vichy France, Flame in the Night is a powerful examination of the strength of faith and peaceful resistance in the face of overwhelming odds.
Julien Losier has just turned eighteen. But this is Vichy France in 1942, and his coming of age is marred by the Nazi occupation of his homeland. His father has always taught him that evil is resisted by the power of God, not by the gun. But when the roundups of Jews begin and both his best friend and the girl he's falling for become targets, Julien must question where real power lies. Can he be a man who protects the people he loves if he follows his father's ways of peace?
His hometown is a fragile fortress where hundreds of Jewish youth hide in plain sight, protected only by the goodwill of their neighbors. Julien takes part in the intricate system of sentries and alert codes that keep them safe, doing what he can to resist the Nazis. As the Germans close in, he can see the moment coming when all the town's careful defenses will fail. He's torn between the faith of his father and his increasing surety that fighting violence with violence is the only way to win. How can the meek inherit the earth when the strong hold all the cards?
Now the young Jewish woman who has captured his heart comes under deadly threat, and there are no good choices. But for Elise, there's nothing Julien won't risk.
Based on actual events in Vichy France, Flame in the Night is a powerful examination of the strength of faith and peaceful resistance in the face of overwhelming odds.
320 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 2018
26 people are currently reading
164 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
September 6, 2018
Heather Munn will firmly establish herself with this book as not only a powerful artist who attends to her words, characters, and setting in a unique way, but also as a first rate historian and careful thinker. Having lived in France, she lives and breathes it. She understands the almost reckless theology that drove the nonviolent resistance which saved thousands of Jewish lives. She clearly loves her characters, none of whom see a clear way forward in the darkness--which is all of us, most of the time. This book is a flame, and Heather Munn a trustworthy guide. [As a fiction judge, I received a review copy of this book with no expectation of an honest review--but I'm giving it anyway. That's how good this book is.]
September 25, 2018
Flame in the Night is a YA novel based on a real-life French community in the throes of Nazi occupation. It fictionalizes the community members who helped organize an elaborate (and illegal) network to hide WWII refugees (mostly Jewish children). This is Heather Munn’s third installment in her series about the village and people of Chambon-sur-Lignon. I’ve read the first two novels as well and really liked all of them, but this third book is especially haunting.
If you’ve ever prayed for peace and at the same time wondered how you would respond if your loved one or your community was under threat, these stories will reveal something to you. Not just about violence and war, but also about internal conflicts that arise in humans who face their own fear and yet continue to feel vulnerable. You’ll find characters whose motives run the gamut. Some want revenge. Some want to stop the evil, even if they can’t heal it. Some simply want to care for the ones they love. All throughout, many more quietly help in whatever way they can. They risk arrest and deportation. Some face their own death. They know the threats are real.
Author, Heather Munn, treats these courageous and hard-won stories with a kindness that allows her character’s to speak for themselves. She opens up space for conversation beyond the simple scripts and, in that way, sets this book apart among young adult fiction. She is especially good when witnessing to how young people hold onto meaningful choices in the midst of their pain, something all of us desperately need to believe is possible. For instance, take one of the story’s heroines, a young Jewish woman by the name of Elisa Schulmann. Munn writes, “She drew the sharp knife down the stone, praying again for mercy, for justice, for no more death.” Even as Elisa contemplates their untenable life in hiding, her brief prayer is wholehearted and complex.
Without being preachy or trite, this story invites the reader to take action and to do so in a way that is uncompromising. These characters believe that ordinary people, in all of their complicated mess, can stand with and shelter the vulnerable. That when there’s sin and darkness–and even a president who is deporting citizens of the world into places of danger and violence–we can all do something about it. (By the way, the actual French town depicted in the book continues to take in displaced families today. The Smithsonian Magazine recently did a wonderful job reporting on it.) Flame in the Night is a bright witness to grace in these dark moments of our history.
If you’ve ever prayed for peace and at the same time wondered how you would respond if your loved one or your community was under threat, these stories will reveal something to you. Not just about violence and war, but also about internal conflicts that arise in humans who face their own fear and yet continue to feel vulnerable. You’ll find characters whose motives run the gamut. Some want revenge. Some want to stop the evil, even if they can’t heal it. Some simply want to care for the ones they love. All throughout, many more quietly help in whatever way they can. They risk arrest and deportation. Some face their own death. They know the threats are real.
Author, Heather Munn, treats these courageous and hard-won stories with a kindness that allows her character’s to speak for themselves. She opens up space for conversation beyond the simple scripts and, in that way, sets this book apart among young adult fiction. She is especially good when witnessing to how young people hold onto meaningful choices in the midst of their pain, something all of us desperately need to believe is possible. For instance, take one of the story’s heroines, a young Jewish woman by the name of Elisa Schulmann. Munn writes, “She drew the sharp knife down the stone, praying again for mercy, for justice, for no more death.” Even as Elisa contemplates their untenable life in hiding, her brief prayer is wholehearted and complex.
Without being preachy or trite, this story invites the reader to take action and to do so in a way that is uncompromising. These characters believe that ordinary people, in all of their complicated mess, can stand with and shelter the vulnerable. That when there’s sin and darkness–and even a president who is deporting citizens of the world into places of danger and violence–we can all do something about it. (By the way, the actual French town depicted in the book continues to take in displaced families today. The Smithsonian Magazine recently did a wonderful job reporting on it.) Flame in the Night is a bright witness to grace in these dark moments of our history.
January 2, 2019
Flame in the Night, Heather Munn’s new young adult book, takes place in a dark time in which a populist head-of-state scapegoats immigrants, glorifies military might, and calls for worship of the nation-state. The majority of Christians not only don’t resist, they cooperate. In one place however, a witness blazes forth as Christians bravely and sacrificially defy the night. Flame in the Night explores the character and practices that fuel such a community.
While some readers may feel wary of yet another novel set in World War II, Munn finds a unique angle by setting the action in south central France on a plateau inhabited by Huguenots—people who, given their own history of persecution, hide those being hunted in Vichy France by the Nazis. Because of Munn’s meticulous research, the details are vivid and the plot twists—often based on things that happened— give the novel the unpredictable feel of the real.
Julien, who has just turned 18, lives with his Jewish best friend Benjamin, and is falling in love with a Jewish girl named Elisa. As the night deepens, both of them are in mortal danger. The combination of a demonic time and teenage hormones serves to sharpen the questions: Why trust a God who isn’t showing up for the people we passionately love? Why not fight violence with violence? Does the story of scripture have anything worthwhile to teach us or does it make people more susceptible to cooperation with evil?
Munn does not attempt to answer any of these questions with glib propositional truths. There is however, a climactic moment in the book that crystallizes the goodness and beauty and mystery of a God-illuminated world. While the questions don’t disappear, the power of this satisfying and robust story makes one want to fight for God’s cause. If you, or a teenager you know, is struggling with such questions in our own fraught and murky time, Flame in the Night offers a bonfire.
I originally published this review at: http://englewoodreview.org/heather-mu...
While some readers may feel wary of yet another novel set in World War II, Munn finds a unique angle by setting the action in south central France on a plateau inhabited by Huguenots—people who, given their own history of persecution, hide those being hunted in Vichy France by the Nazis. Because of Munn’s meticulous research, the details are vivid and the plot twists—often based on things that happened— give the novel the unpredictable feel of the real.
Julien, who has just turned 18, lives with his Jewish best friend Benjamin, and is falling in love with a Jewish girl named Elisa. As the night deepens, both of them are in mortal danger. The combination of a demonic time and teenage hormones serves to sharpen the questions: Why trust a God who isn’t showing up for the people we passionately love? Why not fight violence with violence? Does the story of scripture have anything worthwhile to teach us or does it make people more susceptible to cooperation with evil?
Munn does not attempt to answer any of these questions with glib propositional truths. There is however, a climactic moment in the book that crystallizes the goodness and beauty and mystery of a God-illuminated world. While the questions don’t disappear, the power of this satisfying and robust story makes one want to fight for God’s cause. If you, or a teenager you know, is struggling with such questions in our own fraught and murky time, Flame in the Night offers a bonfire.
I originally published this review at: http://englewoodreview.org/heather-mu...
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January 12, 2020Dnf
September 18, 2018
Flame in the Night by Heather Munn is a captivating drama about the resistance movement in occupied France during WWII. Teenage scouts conceal Jewish children from the Gestapo in remote farms, attics, treetops and caves, while everyday life continues as usual: cultivating vegetables, going to school, shovelling snow, attending church.An informer, working for the compromising Vichy government, takes up residence in the village. Injured German soldiers from the Eastern front are sent there to recuperate. The pastor and his assistant encourage the faithful to practise nonviolent resistance, and they establish a network of helpers, which enables many Jewish children from Poland or Germany, whose parents have been deported to concentration camps, to go into hiding or to take on new identities and mingle with the locals. However, some lads join the underground armed Maquis. And so the agonising questions of conscience keep surfacing.
The prime players in this story are Julien Losier, the eighteen-year-old son of an earnest French Protestant family, and Elisa Schulmann (renamed Elise Fournier), the sixteen-year-old daughter of strict German Jewish parents. You guess: they fall for each other. But this is no traditional romance. It's all about the heart-searching questions of faithfulness to one's upbringing, responsibilities and convictions, of ethical dilemmas, and the tormenting yearning for God to reveal Himself amid all this suffering.
Various subplots spice up the narrative, such as Benjamin’s failed attempt to sneak across the border into Switzerland, the incarceration of Pastor Alexandre and Julien’s father, and the resulting nervous breakdown of his mother. How can two teenagers be expected to cope in such a situation?
The prose is superb throughout this book, capturing not only the sinister events and accompanying inner struggles, but also vividly describing the harsh scenery and the dramatic changes of season, as well as the practicalities of life in a siege situation. One particularly strong feature is the masterly and very realistic use of cropped remarks in tense dialogue exchanges, to hint at things the speaker doesn’t dare to formulate.
Although laced with suspense, this book is not for those seeking an action-packed, racy war thriller. Rather, it will appeal to serious readers, who are willing to come to grips with difficult moral issues and emotional qualms. Some readers might be put off by the repeated reflections on risking one’s life for others, and the legitimacy or otherwise of deceit and violence in a brutal war situation. I found the many characters with unfamiliar-sounding names a bit difficult at first, but the matter largely resolved itself as the book progressed.
This is a magnificent book with a challenging theme. You can buy the paperback or ebook at Amazon or elsewhere. Previous books by Heather and Lydia Munn – How Huge the Night and Defy the Night – set the scene for Flame in the Night and introduce some of the characters. It is not necessary to read them first, as each book is complete in itself.
April 16, 2024
Flame in the Night by Heather Munn is an intense novel set during World War II in rural France, based on actual events. An entire community in Vichy France banded together to protect hundreds of Jewish youth from German persecution during its occupation.
The plot is a ‘slice of life’ account of 18-year-old Julien Losier and his family (sister Magali, pastor father, housewife mother, and farmer grandfather) and the complex system of patrols, alerts, and other Resistance activities they participated in to keep Jewish people safe, at great risk to themselves. The main female character is Elise, a Jewish teen who seeks refuge for her younger siblings after they were smuggled out of a concentration camp while their parents remained.
While some classify this as YA, I do not. Despite their ages, the main characters are forced to deal with life-and-death issues and wrestle with their faith as a result. The author grew up in southern France with second-generation missionary parents, and states on her long-quiet blog, “I’m fascinated by war and peace, faith and doubt, gravity and grace.” All of those themes are evident in this story.
The writing is excellent and thought-provoking; several times I found myself holding my breath, eager to learn how a perilous scene would resolve. The ending is abrupt but reflects real life.
This is the third novel featuring Julien and his family; the first two were co-written with the author’s mother. Flame in the Night was published in 2018, and it appears Ms. Munn hasn’t released any books since then.
I’m grateful a book swap motivated me to take this off my TBR shelf. Now I want to go back and read the beginning of the series.
The plot is a ‘slice of life’ account of 18-year-old Julien Losier and his family (sister Magali, pastor father, housewife mother, and farmer grandfather) and the complex system of patrols, alerts, and other Resistance activities they participated in to keep Jewish people safe, at great risk to themselves. The main female character is Elise, a Jewish teen who seeks refuge for her younger siblings after they were smuggled out of a concentration camp while their parents remained.
While some classify this as YA, I do not. Despite their ages, the main characters are forced to deal with life-and-death issues and wrestle with their faith as a result. The author grew up in southern France with second-generation missionary parents, and states on her long-quiet blog, “I’m fascinated by war and peace, faith and doubt, gravity and grace.” All of those themes are evident in this story.
The writing is excellent and thought-provoking; several times I found myself holding my breath, eager to learn how a perilous scene would resolve. The ending is abrupt but reflects real life.
This is the third novel featuring Julien and his family; the first two were co-written with the author’s mother. Flame in the Night was published in 2018, and it appears Ms. Munn hasn’t released any books since then.
I’m grateful a book swap motivated me to take this off my TBR shelf. Now I want to go back and read the beginning of the series.
September 27, 2018
Heather Munn has written a fascinating book, Flame in the Night, which is an authentic exploration of 1942 events in a small town during World War II Nazi occupation of southern France. The author grew up near the town where the story takes place as her parents were missionaries. Her story centers around 18 year old Julien Losier and his love interest Elise, a young Jewish woman. Julien's family believe in the power of God to handle any problem especially evil. Julien seems surrounded by darkness as he searches for a way through the evil that tries to overcome them. Flame in the Night is the best of Heather's writings. You will find scenes that explore her fascination with war and peace, faith an doubt, gravity and grace. It is a wonderful story of a young man's encounter with God in facing life challenges. You may want to include it on your Christmas gift list. I thoroughly enjoyed this story and feel you will as well. It is a story of intrigue, life and death encounters, young love and even a possible murder.
March 18, 2021
This book is set in France during WWII. Until I looked at some Goodreads reviews, I had no idea it was possibly targeted for YA. It was not in that section in my local library.
It was fascinating reading about the non-violence stands and practices of the pastors in this small French village. Although they were heavily involved in hiding people and moving people from place to place, they drew the line at using weapons against the enemy. I loved all the references to God and His protection in the book even when people suffered. It was totally different from any other book that I have read set in this period of time.
I thought many aspects of the book were fantastic but I just did not like the author's writing style. It was too choppy and fragmented. At times the imagery just didn't work for me.
It was fascinating reading about the non-violence stands and practices of the pastors in this small French village. Although they were heavily involved in hiding people and moving people from place to place, they drew the line at using weapons against the enemy. I loved all the references to God and His protection in the book even when people suffered. It was totally different from any other book that I have read set in this period of time.
I thought many aspects of the book were fantastic but I just did not like the author's writing style. It was too choppy and fragmented. At times the imagery just didn't work for me.
August 5, 2024
A meaningful read with a fresh perspective on World War II (which is rather rare at this point!).
Based on a remarkable true events, Munn does a good job of immersing the reader in the realities of life for families, and particular teens, in WWII seeking to resist the Nazi occupation.
As a seminary grad and pastor, I enjoyed the deep theological elements of the book, particularly the wrestling with commitment to Christ's way of pacifism in the face of war and hatred. Would be a good read for Christian youth groups or young people wondering how they can stand up to hate non-violently.
Based on a remarkable true events, Munn does a good job of immersing the reader in the realities of life for families, and particular teens, in WWII seeking to resist the Nazi occupation.
As a seminary grad and pastor, I enjoyed the deep theological elements of the book, particularly the wrestling with commitment to Christ's way of pacifism in the face of war and hatred. Would be a good read for Christian youth groups or young people wondering how they can stand up to hate non-violently.
March 1, 2022
I just love Julien and his family and his town.
This series is a beautiful slow burn from a young boy becoming a man during the war, a town awakening to the realities of this war and the reader coming to grips with his/her own beliefs about war and peace.
I've read the first 2 of this series at least twice and read them JUST before reading this one and kinda wish I had read it separately so I could let them all breathe. (But I couldn't b/c they are to compelling!) Anyway, I will read this again so I can savor it.
Highly recommend.
This series is a beautiful slow burn from a young boy becoming a man during the war, a town awakening to the realities of this war and the reader coming to grips with his/her own beliefs about war and peace.
I've read the first 2 of this series at least twice and read them JUST before reading this one and kinda wish I had read it separately so I could let them all breathe. (But I couldn't b/c they are to compelling!) Anyway, I will read this again so I can savor it.
Highly recommend.
March 3, 2019
This is a YA book told from a different perspective of the French in the town of Tanieux in Vichy France. It was more of a story of peaceful resistance and faith where the village protected and passed into Switzerland the Jewish refugees than it was of violent resistance. Interesting characters with their stories and beliefs.
October 8, 2024
I’ve read many novels about World War II and the Holocaust, but I’d never heard about this aspect. It was intriguing and uplifting to read about how a community came together to combat evil. The book also discussed deep faith themes, and the writing style was beautiful!
December 27, 2018
See my review on Amazon.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews