The Tortoise Shell Comb

Book excerpt: It is a late evening in May 1941 and Victor Crespi should have returned home long ago. His wife, his daughter lise, and his eleven-year-old son Simon are apprehensive. After searching in vain all evening, his wife slumps in a chair and cries until dawn when she finally learns of her husbands fate: he has been arrested by the Vichy French police on his way home from work. In his possession is an identification card stamped Jewish. Enough evidence to render an innocent man guilty and send him to the Beaune-la-Rolande camp in the Loiret region. As Victor attempts to survive, Simon and his family cling to hope, even as Jewish round-ups continue. Everything changes a year later when Simon and his family are themselves picked up at dawn in their apartment. When Simon is distressingly separated from his mother and sister, he has just one thing that helps him hang onto life and hope: his mothers tortoise shell comb he keeps in his pocket.