Cover of Strange Gardens

Strange Gardens

In Our Strange Gardenswas named a BookSense 76 Recommended Pick for January 2002!Michel has a story to tell. It's about his father, an exquisitely common man whose very ordinariness is a source of grave embarrassment for the boy. It's also the story told to him by his uncle, who shared a family secret with the child in the flickering black and white images of a Sunday matinee.

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Years before, in the bitter years of World War II, during the Nazi occupation of France, two brothers found themselves at the mercy of a German guard following an explosive act of resistance. Thrown into a deep pit with a small group of terrified prisoners, the men are told that one of them will die by dawn to serve as an example for the others. It's up to the prisoners to propose who will be sacrificed. But in the middle of the night, the guard returns with an extraordinary proposition of his own.

A novel of revelation, innocence and ignorance, of the power of language and the strength and complexity of family, In Our Strange Gardensis a fable of nuance and power, a mesmerizing addition to the literature of war.

Audience
adult
Length
short · 85 pages

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  1. Memory Shares french, historical fiction, France
  2. The Forger Shares historical fiction, fiction, World War II
  3. Woman of Letters: Irene Nemirovsky and Suite Francaise Shares french, France, World War II
  4. Articles Of War Shares historical fiction, fiction, World War II

“People who read Strange Gardens tend to reach for these next.”

  1. Outwitting the Gestapo
  2. Abortion Arcade
  3. The Penguin Book of Gay Short Stories
  4. Resistance: A French Woman's Journal of the War

“If you want more of the same (historical fiction), start with these.”

  1. Day of the Bees
  2. A Midnight Clear
  3. Fair Stood the Wind for France
  4. Liberation Road

“If it was the France that hooked you, try one of these.”

  1. The Confidant
  2. The Kindly Ones
  3. All Our Worldly Goods
  4. Monsieur Le Commandant

“These start from a similar idea, even if they go somewhere else with it.”

  1. Block 11
  2. The Darkness of Light
  3. Good and Evil
  4. Practice to Deceive