Jacqueline – A Soldier’s Daughter

Based on the memoirs of Jacqueline Ober – the author’s mother.

By Pierre-Jacques and Jules Ober

Released in French as ‘Jacqueline: j’avais 7ans quand la guerre a éclaté’ by Seuil Jeunesse in September 2021.
Awarded the 2021 Prix HIP for best photographic book for children.

In English by Ford Street Publishing in October 2021.
Children’s Book Council of Australia Notable Picture Book, 2021.
 

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“For my beloved grandchildren.
I don’t have a fortune to leave you when I go. Only these stories – my childhood memories of the period they called the Second World War. A time when all the adults seemed to have gone crazy. When Papa wore the uniform and carried the gun, but Maman was the one, brave and fierce, who kept my world from falling apart.

You’ll learn why I hate clocks, why sheep give me nightmares and how sisters can come from the most unexpected places!”

 

The Origins of the Project

I, Pierre-Jacques,  have never been able to do things with my Dad, just the two of us. Even just going to a cafe for a drink, even just for a short promenade. He would never leave my mother behind, alone – she always had to be part of what we did. The only time he would leave her alone was when he went to work, which often meant being away for weeks on army exercises. She had plenty to do looking after my sister and I. She was part of a very supportive military community but it was always difficult for her.

A few years ago my mother gave my sister and I a thick handwritten manuscript, the recollection of her life’s story, illustrated by numerous archival photos. When I read the chapters related to WW2, I finally understood why my mother did not like being “left behind”…

 

 

The Facts

My French grandfather was taken prisoner by the Germans in June 1940.  My grandmother crossed France with my 7 year old mother on a bicycle when she became aware that my grandfather was held captive in a German prison camp. She organised his escape and smuggled him through occupied France, across the demarcation zone into Algeria where he immediately signed up with the Armée d’Afrique. He fought in the Italian, French and German campaigns between 1943 and 1945 while my mother and grandmother waited in Algiers. They finally joined him in occupied Germany in August 1945 where they were all billeted with the family of a German engineer. My grandfather’s family had suffered much during the war, he had lost many good comrades, Germany was a defeated country,  but they had to learn to live together.

 

The Story

Based on a few chapters of my mother’s manuscript, this book tells the story of what happened to her between 1940 and 1945, when she was between 7 and 12 years old, in France, North Africa and Germany.

A story told from the point of view of a lonely little girl, a single child who dreams of having a little sister to keep her company. Despite putting on a brave face, this little girl is very scared when her parents need to leave her alone – to go to war, to scrounge for food, to find underground resistance fighters, to avoid patrols.

A story about childhood fears, needs and dreams. How children can be totally oblivious to the huge dramatic events they find themselves part of. How their vision and understanding of the world does not go far beyond their Mummy and Daddy, their teddy bear or the constant dream of a little sister.

Contrary to millions of unfortunate men, women and children who died during WW2, her story has a happy ending.

 
 

Jules and Pierre-Jacques Ober’s books on Goodreads