Summary

The Prologue begins in the present day. Julian gives his grandmother a video call. He needs to write an essay about someone for school, and he wants to write about his grandmother and her experiences during the World War II. At first, she hesitates; talking about the war is hard for her. But eventually, she decides that she must talk about her experiences. She says she will tell Julian things she has never told anyone before.

Part 1, Chapter 1 begins in France during the 1930s. The narrator is now Julian's grandmother, Sara, when was a child. (Sara is the same person as Grandmere from the prologue.) She had a comfortable childhood in a large apartment in a good neighborhood. Her dad was a surgeon, and her mom was a math teacher. Her family lived in a village by the Margeride mountains...