This is a fictional story inspired by real events and the experiences of real people who lived or were sheltered in a cluster of villages in south-Central France during World War II The opposite of good is not evil the opposite of good is indifference In a free society where terrible wrongs exist some are guilty but all are responsible Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel
CAST OF MAJOR CHARACTERS A Pastor Autin oh-tanh one of the Protestant pastors in Les Lauzes B Monsieur Boulet monh-syeur boo-lay director and houseparent of the Beehive C Céleste say-lest high school student originally from Paris who becomes a courier for the resistance Claude Clo-clo clode clo-clo Jules’s friend who helps paint the roadway Madame Créneau mah-dahm cray-no organizer of the network that finds safe places for refugees on the plateau and smuggles children and others to Switzerland D Madame Desault mah-dahm day-zo rescues children from the camps and brings them to Les Lauzes by train F Jean-Paul Filon zhonh-pole fee-lonh Jewish teen who seeks shelter in Les Lauzes and becomes a master forger He is also known as Otto and Jean-Paul Lafour H Henni a German Jewish teen released from Gurs internment camp to Les Lauzes Max’s girlfriend J Jules zhul ten or eleven-year-old goatherd who passes messages creates diversions and delivers forged papers for vi
Jean-Paul Filon Also known as La Crapule lah crah-pul The Scoundrel L Léon lay-onh brother of Sylvie teen resident of Sunnyside who joins the resistance Louis XIV loo-ee kah-torz King of France 1643-1715 Devoutly Catholic he abolished the rights of the Huguenot Protestants and encouraged his dragoons soldiers to persecute them until they emigrated or converted M Madeleine mah-deu-lehn Henni’s friend Jewish teen living at The Beehive Max Henni’s German Jewish boyfriend whom she met in Gurs a concentration camp primarily used for internment Monsieur and Madame Mousset M and Mme Mousset monh syeur and mah-dahm moo-say a farm couple who offers a space to Jean-Paul Filon where he can both live and run his forgery operation P Officer Perdant per-danh plainclothes French police inspector sent to keep an eye on the townspeople of Les Lauzes Marshal Pétain pay-tan head of the collaborationist Vichy government in southern France after Germany occupied northern France When Germany occupied southern France in 1942 he became a puppet of the German military adminstration Philippe fee-leep high school student from Normandy who hides refugees and smuggles people to Switzerland S Sylvie seel-vee Léon’s sister high school student and forger vii
