The Girl Who Risked It All: An epic and heartbreaking World War 2 novel (The Emerald Sisters Book 3) by Kate Hewitt

Author:Kate Hewitt [Hewitt, Kate]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bookouture
Published: 2024-10-17T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 16

MAY 1942—LYON, THE ZONE LIBRE

After the icy and unforgiving winter, spring came to Lyon like a benediction, with balmy breezes and lemony sunshine. The Parc de la Tête d’Or, in the northern part of the city, was bursting with blossom, its magnificent glasshouses boasting species of flora and fauna from all the world. Boats bobbed lazily on the park’s glassy lake, created from a tributary of the Rhone. To Hannah, it all felt like a dreamy façade for what was the reality of living in Lyon as a résistant, and a half-Jewish one at that.

Since she’d seen Lotte back in January, things had, as Hannah had feared, become worse for both Jews and résistants. Pierre Laval, a Fascist sympathizer and notorious antisemite, had become the second in command of L’État Français just last month, and with his reinstatement, the original statutes against Jews that had been passed two years ago, which many had turned an amiable blind eye to, now came into blistering force. Jews were far less tolerated, both by the regime and the public, than they had been at the start of war, and the statutes were followed to the letter—Jews were banned from public parks and transportation, forbidden from most jobs, their bank accounts and property seized. It was like it had been back in Germany before the war, but even worse.

Although rarely said outright, many French seemed to blame Jews for their sorry state—hungry, cold, with restrictions and shortages at every turn—even as they began to express a disaffection for Pétain, the hero of the first war that many had once practically worshipped. Anti-Pétain graffiti had begun to appear on walls around the city, and the French Police, aided by the Gestapo, continued to crack down on any form of resistance where they found it—listening to the prohibited radio or using defeatist language. Never mind the far more serious crimes that ended in torture and death—sabotage, spying, or aiding the enemy, all of which Germaine Guérin continued to involve herself in, with her same reckless courage. Hannah continued to help her, in her admittedly small way, taking the clothes of the brothel’s customers and searching the pockets for anything to photograph.

A month ago, Germaine had stopped her in the hallway, a faint smile curving her generous mouth, as she’d handed Hannah what looked like a bottle of talcum powder.

“Pardon…?” Hannah had asked in confusion. She had no idea what it was or why Germaine would be giving it to her.

“Give that a shake over their jackets and trousers,” Germaine had told her. “And their underwear, as well. It was given by a friend and should make our German and collaborator friends very uncomfortable.” She gave a throaty chuckle. “But not too much, in case they get suspicious, and not every time. And, of course, make sure you don’t get it on yourself, chérie, for we don’t need you getting the itch.”

It was, Hannah had realized, a bottle of itching powder. Cautiously, she’d shaken it over

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