marie's blog

Before the war finished, Aubrac, with a few other men, was given responsibilities by De Gaulle in rebuilding the country. His district was Marseilles. He had to be tough and ruthless in his decision to requisition the local industries but he managed to put the local economy back on the tracks.

He went on doing his job as a road and bridge engineer working in Morocco and Vietnam before going back to diplomacy especially working with Henry Kissinger trying to end up the Vietnam war. In the process he made friend with Ho Chi Minh.

After the end of the Vietnam war he carried on working on an agricultural project between France and Vietnam and was the initiator of a world agricultural database years before the Internet.

This book is full of anecdotes relating historical events that people had not heard of before, sometimes putting the records straight. This book should be read by everybody especially children who are studying this period of history at school.

This is what happens here where King Tsongor's children, after his death, are unable to communicate and make a decision.

Samilia's character could have been more developed and the war scenes between the two rivals shortened.

In spite of this, the writing is superb. One can easily imagine the novel being adapted to the theatre.

Eva Luna is "The Woman" within a male's world. She deals with her life, she decides and she leads it where ever she wants. She is a modern Scheherazade.

Even though the writing is not as subtle as in "Daughter of Fortune" written later, you still are hooked and want to know what is happening like in a good series.