In 1943 Claire Chevrillon (code named Christiane Clouet) became head of the Code Service in Paris for General de Gaulle's Delegation and served as the main link in the lines of communication flowing between the Free French Government in London and the Delegation (Provisional Government) in France. It was Chevrillon and her team who coded many of the telegrams in Is Paris Burning ? Until now, little has been published about this unglamorous but vital aspect of the French Resistance. Chevrillon's memoir gives abundant detail about what daily life was like for the French elite during the German occupation. Her father, a scholar and literary critic who had been raised by his celebrated uncle, philosopher-historian Hippolyte Taine, put her in contact with the upper circles of French culture. Her mother, who was from a large, assimilated Jewish family, gave her first-hand knowledge of the persecution of French Jews. Her story vividly portrays the wartime experience of private lives and public events, including the tedious backroom work of the Resistance and four months she spent captive in Paris's dreaded Fresnes prison. The way Chevrillon tells her story is almost as remarkable as the story itself. Evenhandedly and without embellishment, she relives the days of the occupation, the arrest and deportation of her prominent Jewish relatives, her own role in the underground network, and the eventual liberation of France. The straightforward, even brisk, style with which Chevrillon writes, together with the breadth of her experience and her extensive contacts in French society, give a perspective not often encountered in stories of the World War II underground. Perhaps most important, Chevrillon demonstrates that heroism can take quiet, hidden forms. While several classic memoirs of the Resistance exist, relatively few have been written by women. Chevrillon, the scion of a prominent literary family, was head of the Code Service for Paris and the main link in the lines of communication between the Resistance and the Free French government in London. It was Chevrillon and her team who coded many of the telegrams published in Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre's Is Paris Burning? Highly readable and moving, her memoirs recount in vivid detail the hardships of living under occupation, the deportation of her Jewish relatives, and the difficulties of life in prison, where she spent four months. Chevrillon's empathy for her compatriots and her sensitive appreciation of the simple pleasures of life in the midst of war make this an inspirational and enlightening story. This book should appeal not only to scholars of French and women's history but also to general readers interested in accounts of the war years.?Marie Marmo Mullaney, Caldwell Coll., N.J. Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. In 1943 Claire Chevrillon (code named Christiane Clouet) became head of the Code Service in Paris for General de Gaulle's Delegation and served as the main link in the lines of communication flowing between the Free French Government in London and the Delegation (Provisional Government) in France. It was Chevrillon and her team who coded many of the telegrams in Is Paris Burning? Until now, little has been published about this unglamorous but vital aspect of the French Resistance. Chevrillon's memoir gives abundant detail about what daily life was like for the French elite during the German occupation. Her father, a scholar and literary critic who had been raised by his celebrated uncle, philosopher-historian Hippolyte Taine, put her in contact with the upper circles of French culture. Her mother, who was from a large, assimilated Jewish family, gave her firsthand knowledge of the persecution of French Jews. Her story vividly portrays the wartime experience of private lives and public events, including the tedious backroom work of the Resistance and four months she spent captive in Paris's dreaded Fresnes prison. After the war, CLAIRE CHEVRILLON returned to teaching both in Paris and abroad. She later served as director of the French Cultural Center in Fez and the French Library in Tunis. She is now retired and currently living in Paris.JANE KIELTY STOTT is a writer, researcher, and public policy advocate who lives in Austin, Texas. Used Book in Good Condition