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“There are some incredible books out there written about he most horrifying wars.” All Quiet on the Western Front by A.W. Sheen; A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway; The Moon Is Down by John Steinbeck; Fall of Giants (The Century Trilogy) by Ken Follett; Mila 18 by Leon Uris; In This Hospitable Land by Lynmar Brock, Jr.; Slaughterhouse –Five: A Novel by Kurt Vonnegut; Hiroshima by John Hersey.
In This Hospitable Land by Lynmar Brock, Jr. “Brock sets this gripping narrative, based on a true story, against an engrossing portrait of rural France during the war, one that celebrates its rich culture and folkways and the tenacious heroism of its people as they adjust to the Occupation while shrewdly undermining it … an inspiring tale of universal brotherhood.”
“Brock sets this gripping narrative, based on a true story, against an engrossing portrait of rural France during the wars ... Brock manages to craft an inspiring tale of universal brotherhood. A moving story about the discovery of true home amid the ruptures of war.”
“In This Hospitable Land” – I was taken by the word pictures that you created. I was impressed with not only the events of the story, but also your detailed description of the people and their surroundings."
“A beautiful human interest story written with deep feeling and compassion for those involved. The intrigue and suspense made it an enjoyable and informative read.”
“I just finished reading In This Hospitable Land, and I really could not put it down.”
“I want to say what a moving experience it was to read your book, In This Hospitable Land. What a powerful, engaging and important story. I plan to share it with several friends. Nothing I have read in a long time captures the spirit of true human brotherhood more.”
“I read your wonderful book, In This Hospitable Land, and thoroughly enjoyed it. It was a very moving story with excellent plot and character development. What made the book so particularly moving to me is that it was based on a true story.”
“The novel Geneviève has more action than most movies. The novel is enriched by settings that shift from Italy and Capri to France and beyond. A navy-themed Casablanca. Brock is a pro at creating scenes. In the novel’s final moments, the tension and suspense are pushed to a high level. The loud crash of the Spencer’s collision, Geneviève’s heartbreak and tough choice—and the story’s conclusion—all echo far beyond the last page.”
IN THIS HOSPITABLE LAND has been honored as a Finalist in the “Fiction: Historical” category of the 2012 International Book Awards! Congratulations!
I stumbled over this phrase one critic used: “You know you have a terrific book in our hands when you encounter language of elegantly presented research that startles you into fresh awareness; you know it when the atmosphere of a novel doesn’t leave you for days, or years.” (Quote from a website on NPR: Maureen Corrigan’s Best Books of 2008.) This is exactly how I felt when I started reading “In This Hospitable Land”.
IN THIS HOSPITABLE LAND: A Jewish family finds unlikely refuge from the Holocaust in this stirring World War II adventure. Fleeing the Wehrmacht’s invasion of their native Belgium. André Sauverin, his brother Alin, their wives and four children head south until the Germans victory over France strands them in the southern French region of Cévennes. Brock sets this gripping narrative, based on a true story, against an engrossing portrait of rural France during the war, one that celebrates its rich culture and folkways and the tenacious heroism of its people as they adjust to the Occupation while shrewdly undermining it. From his intimate recreation of village life in a provincial backwater, Brock manages to craft an inspiring tale of universal brotherhood. A moving story about the discovery of a true home amid the ruptures of war.
GENEVIÈVE: Brock (In This Hospitable Land, 2011, etc.) returns with a junior naval officer’s alternately romantic and tragic romp around Europe with his French lady love. Events physically come to a head when the Spencer collides with a British merchant ship during Karnin’s watch. Although the ship manages to limp toward port, there are numerous fatalities. Seemingly troubled only by self-interest, Karnin is quick to throw blame elsewhere, while sailors all around him struggle to come to grips with the horrible accident. Brock’s beautifully crafted descriptions of Mediterranean scenery—a view “ringed by the mountains leaping up from the water and crowned by orange and lemon groves”—provide a stunning backdrop to the story of romance and tragedy. A seaworthy story of love and unhappiness.
I finished Geneviève a few weeks ago and enjoyed it very much. The descriptions were vivid, and the subject matter was thought provoking.
I loved the book. What a fascinating story, so well told—and thank heavens, at least one good ending to a World War II story.
I have just finished In This Hospitable Land and enjoyed it a lot. It was the type of book where you wanted to get to the next chapter to see what was going to happen. Very well written!
As the Second World War becomes a reality, André Sauverin, professor at the Free University of Brussels, escapes with his family to France five days after the German invasion of Belgium in May, 1940. Seeking survival and a meaningful God, André leads his family deep into the Cévennes Mountains of the south of France. Non-practicing but part of a large Jewish family, the Sauverins take to farming, while being protected by the Protestant Cévenoles, until the Gestapo in the spring of 1943 forces the family into hiding. While the women and children are hidden by courageous Cévenoles, the men join the local Resistance to fight both the Germans and their French collaborators. “Brock sets this gripping narrative, based on a true story, against an engrossing portrait of rural France during the war…Brock manages to craft an inspiring tale of universal brotherhood. A moving story about the discovery of a true home amid the ruptures of war.”
A Harrowing Tale of the Holocaust, Inspired by a Real Family and the People Who Saved Them. It’s been said that fact is often stranger than fiction but for Lynmar Brock, Jr., fact inspires fiction. Pulling from family history and shockingly true events, Lynmar Brock, Jr., weaves a compelling novel about courage and the search for home in the midst of chaos in his new novel IN THIS HOSPITABLE LAND. At once a compelling novel and historical work. IN THIS HOSPITABLE LAND is based on one family’s harrowing true story of Holocaust survival and presents a side of the Holocaust rarely seen—that of a non-practicing Jewish family in Belgium. Proud of their faith and heritage even though they are not devout, the family is forced to flee to Southern France when the Nazis invade Belgium. Finding sanctuary for a time in the Cévennes, they are eventually hidden and saved by the Protestant people of the area. It’s a story of friendship, religious acceptance, and love, even in the face of horror, and the fact that the plot arch is based in truth makes its tenants even more meaningful. When the Germans invade Belgium in 1940, chemistry professor André Sauverin fears the worst. His colleagues at the Free University, Belgium’s world-renowned institution of independent thinking believe their social and political positions will protect them during the occupation, but André is not willing to risk his family or his life. And so he and his brother Alex take their parents, wives, and children and flee south into France, all of their worldly possessions packed into a Buick and trailer. Traveling from one town to another, they eventually find refuge and friendship in a rural farming community in the Cévennes. The townspeople, descendents of the Huguenots who settled the area after surviving religious persecutions of their own, rally around the Sauverins and other Jews who live in the countryside. As the war rages on and spreads further into France, the Sauverins are forced into hiding, and André and Alex join the French Resistance, working alongside the same people who are protecting their families. Though they are faced with war and death, the Sauverins and the French who save them maintain their hope that good will prevail. |