Defy the Night
By Heather Munn and Lydia Munn
(received in exchange for an honest review)
Genre- Fiction / Historical
Published by- Kregel Publications
Copyrighted- 2014
Number of pages- 312
Age Group- Older Teen and Adult
Description of book- paperback, listed price- $14.99, ISBN 978-0-8254-4321-3
The photos are courtesy of Heather Munn!
In Defy the Night, by Heather Munn and Lydia Munn, fifteen-year-old Magali lives in France’s “free zone.” Life is still free for her, but food is rationed and there are many refugees in her town. The free zone is run by the Vichy government. The Vichy government runs their own internment camps and they allow aid workers into the camps to help the children. They also release the children to aid workers.
Paquerette is one of those aid workers. She asks Magali and some of the other girls in the village to help her. The work is very hard and Magali is not sure that she will be able to do it or keep doing it once she begins.
How many children will she be able to save and how will others in the village accept what she does?
About the Authors-
Heather Munn grew up in France with her missionary parents and now lives with her husband and son in Illinois. She went to Wheaton College where she has earned a BA in literature. Heather wanted to be a writer since she was five-years-old.
Lydia Munn and her husband have two children, Heather, and a son, Robin. Lydia has been church planting and Bible teaching in France since 1983. She has a BA in literature from Wheaton and has always enjoy reading books.
My thoughts-
Heather Munn and Lydia Munn have written another wonderful book in the Refuge in the Night series (unofficial name, courtesy of Heather Munn). I learned a lot about 1941 France and World War II when I read their latest book, Defy the Night.
What I know about World War II is basically what I learned in my grammar school textbooks, Pearl Harbor and the London Blitz. I never knew about France with the Vichy government and their internment camps. I now know a lot more about France and what its citizens went through during part of World War II.
The Munn’s descriptions of the interment camps and Magali’s train rides were so well written that I felt as if I were there with her, Paquerette, and the children. I could feel their pain and I could understand their fear when the Nazis were on the train with them.
It was certainly a time of growth for fifteen-year-old Magali. She grew from a teenager who thought she could do no wrong to a confident, but cautious young woman. It was also a time of growth with God. All of the rescues that Magali, Paquerette, and the others did, would not have been possible without God’s grace.
I homeschool my children and this is definitely a book I will be having them read when they are in high school. It was a perfect living book for the Charlotte Mason Method of teaching. I wish I had known more about the France, the Vichy government, and the internment camps when I was taking world history.
I would highly recommend Defy the Night to anyone who is interested in World War II. I would also recommend it to everyone else. It is an excellent book.
Here is a link to my review from the first book, How Huge the Night. It is also an excellent book.
Disclosure of Material Connection- I received Defy the Night, by Heather Munn and Lydia Munn, for free from the Kregel Publications’ Blog Tour. All links were current when posted. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own or those of my family. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
