Reviewed by Emma Crowley
With a fake name written on the papers in her pocket, American photographer Clarisse Alarie knows the dangers of Paris better than most. Haunted by the sight of children being dragged away and carrying a photograph of the brown-eyed little girl everywhere she goes, Clarisse is desperate to make a difference. Meeting handsome resistance fighter Louis is her chance…
Louis introduces Clarisse to Café Capoulade and his underground network of brave men and women fighting tirelessly to end the occupation. Soon, Clarisse is risking her life every day. Taking photographs of the terror that has overcome the beautiful city, Clarisse follows members of the Gestapo and hides in plain sight in order to gather evidence of their terrible crimes.
But Clarisse soon learns of the over-crowded cattle cars leaving Paris carrying even the smallest children, bound for an unspeakably terrible place… Is she already too late to rescue the little girl with the brown eyes? And when Louis himself is arrested, will Clarisse risk everything the network has worked so hard for to save them both?
Many thanks to Bookouture via NetGalley for my copy of The Secret Photograph to review and to Sharon for having my review on the blog.
In her new book, Siobhan Curham certainly gives her main character, Clarisse, a strong and steady voice which shouts with determination and strength from every page. Set during the occupation of Paris by the Germans during World War Two, The Secret Photograph, paints a vivid and realistic picture of the ethical dilemmas faced by photographers when trying to document the horrors of war. The brief prologue is tense and packed full of unease and danger as a woman and child hide in a cellar. How they got there and the reasons for this are not at easy to decipher but over the course of a fascinating story things slowly become clear and what unfolds is a remarkable tale of one woman’s aim to rid France of the brutality, hatred and barbarity executed by the Germans. The goal of liberty, equality and fraternity for all is what drives all of the characters on through the most desperate and harrowing of times.The further you read the more your appreciation grows at the situations and circumstances the characters place themselves in and most of all Clarisse becomes a tour de force through her photography and her willingness to place herself in unpredictable and dangerous situations.
Clarisse arrived in the City of Light from America several years ago under false papers. There is nothing left for her in America and she has made herself a new life as a fashion photographer but the city she has come to love so much has been stripped of its joy and panache as has Clarisse’s life. Married to an artist named Pierre she has come to the conclusion that she no longer loves him and in fact she can’t fathom why she was ever with him in the first place. She detests Pierre and no longer wishes to be controlled and dominated by him. An event soon sees her gone from his clutches and it is from this point on that Clarisse starts to come into her own. She explores the city taking photographs of what she witnesses as fashion is no longer a priority.
The round ups of foreign Jews living in France have increased and one morning she observes a woman being taken from her apartment with her daughter. She takes out her camera and clicks and the photo that results is what will inspire and drive her on throughout the book. The woman is left for dead and her daughter Lillie is taken by the Germans to the velodrome in Paris. Clarisse finds a locket left on the side of the street which is owned by Lillie. She is determined one day to reunite her with it and this becomes her talisman throughout the dark days that cover what was once a beautiful city filled with life, love and laughter.
The cruel and barbaric event that unfolded before Clarisse’s eyes are her driving force. It is what makes her wake up to the situations occurring on her beloved adopted city and now she makes a decision that she will do anything in her power to help all those persecuted by the Germans. For so long, she has felt helpless as the laws and persecutions increase but now she understands that her photography she is powerful and she an use it to inform people of what is happening and to aid the Resistance in their work. ’My true self had woken up and was refusing to go back to sleep’. This self that has arisen with Clarisse becomes like a roar and she is resolute in that what she does will help those who need it and will open the eyes to the general public as to what is occurring on the streets to everyday normal people who had never done anything wrong except to be a Jew.
The title of Fire is given to Clarisse by a man she meets who takes her to an underground club/bar and this word couldn’t be more apt for her. For as the story progress she burns bright and fierce and the intensity of her flame increases with each turn of the page.The man she meets - Louis, although she gives him the title of The Peacock, is nothing like anyone that she has encountered before. He is a member of the Zazous- a group of people who defy conventions. They love swing music and are free to dress in flamboyant and colourful outfits and do as they please. The Peacock is a fabulous symbol of colour and flair which is in stark contrast to the events unfolding in the homes and streets of Paris. Clarisse is instantly drawn to him and treasures his irrepressible spirit and words of wisdom. There is an instant attraction between the pair – ‘The peacock was like a ray of sunshine in human form and a welcome contrast to the darkness I could feel gathering all around’. Louis gives Clarisse the space and freedom to be, unlike Pierre and they admit they have feelings for one another. You just wish that they could be free to be together in normal circumstances without death, terrorism and suppression raging all around them.
Hitler is ‘stamping out imagination and hope and replacing them with cruelty and despair’. But the Peacock and his friends are determined that this will not continue and so Clarisse joins forces with the Resistance and will use her photographs to highlight what is going on and any information she gathers can be used by the underground momvement to aid them in their plots. Raymond is the man within the group who sends Clarisse on dangerous missions and at times I thought she was just so reckless and wasn’t wary enough with what she was doing or where she was venturing. That at any time she risked exposure and if she was caught then that was the end of her actions to help others. But I suppose this was all new to her as it was to so many others and she was finding her footing and she did become more conscious as she was provided with further tasks.
Joseph, Lillie and Natalia provide three sub stories within the main plot. I won’t go into any details but to say I loved how this was woven into the story and for the inspiration and courage it provided Clarisse with would be an understatement. There were so many little connections and meanings to be found from these characters and they gelled so well with the overall themes being explored and made Clarisse more aware of herself and her actions and motivations. Reuniting Lillie with her locket is what spurs Clarisse on through the most challenging of times. ’We were living in the middle of a nightmare that no one was waking from’. This nightmare only intensifies when Louis is arrested as things only go from bad to worse. Has Clarisse the strength to continue on with her work and rid France of the imposters who have taken over and reign with such abject fear and cruelty?
Throughout the story there are chapters dotted here and there from Paris in 1985. Initially, I thought I was so smug that I knew why they were there and what their purpose was serving. But boy I couldn’t have been more wrong and that twist that came, well I had to reread a line several times just to make sure I was reading things right because in my head I had it figured out and then with one word everything was turned on its head. It definitely put a new slant on things and in equal measure was heart-breaking and heart-warming but I loved how it slotted into the book as a whole. I was hoping for a certain conclusion but I got something surprisingly different. Was I disappointed? Admittedly I was but just for a minute or two until I realised it couldn’t have been any other way. The Secret Photograph is the second book published by Siobhan Curham this year. The Storyteller of Auschwitz was astounding and it was going to be an impossible job in my eyes to follow it up. The Secret Photograph doesn’t eclipse its predecessor but none the less it was a remarkable, inspiring and informative read.
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