La prononciation française pour de vrai

Cinq ans dans la vie d’une petite fille, 1940 - 1945

CINQ ANS DANS LA VIE D’UNE PETITE FILLE – 1940-1945
by Jeannine Pastor-Goulding.
This is a 48-page A4 size book.

Mme Jeannine Pastor-Goulding has clear memories of her experience as a refugee in the Second World War. Her home town of Menton in the south of France was invaded by the Italian army and the inhabitants evacuated to Puget-Ville, near Toulon. But the German army soon made its presence felt in Puget-Ville, all vividly recounted by Jeannine.

Menton was Penny’s home town when she lived in France, so she was moved when her friend Claude Bartali, who is mentioned in the book, gave her Jeannine’s typescript to read. Copyright for the text has been donated to the Second World War Experiences Centre in Leeds (www.war-experience.org). Jeannine and Penny are grateful for permission to publish this account.

This delightful story bears reading and re-reading, and reading it aloud is a pleasure too. Readers can benefit by memorising words and phrases in the book, and re-using them when they speak French.

Apart from the story which is printed in large print on good quality paper, with key theme phrases in the margin, there is a page-by-page French to English glossary, and a set of comprehension questions in English. There is also guidance for discussion and further research into the area and the period described. The book is aimed at interested mature learners of French wishing to read an accessible and enthralling story, but also at secondary school classes, the most likely being Year twelve. As can be seen from the extracts, the story is recounted in the present tense.

Cinq ans dans la vie d’une petite fille – 1940-1945 was published in April 2010. Reviews will appear in due course.

UK: £10.50 plus £1.25 p&p
Europe: £10.50 plus £2.50 p&p
rest of the world: £10.50 plus £4.25 p&p

Extract 1 :

«Je m’appelle Jeannie Pastor, j’ai quatre ans et demi. J’habite 16, rue de la Conception, Menton. »
« Répète, répète » me dit maman. La date est juin 1940. Depuis des mois, Mussolini dit à la radio italienne, « Mentone nostro », Menton est à nous. Chaque fois que maman l’entend, elle pleure.

Extract 2 :

Nous allons [à Ille-sur-Tête] dans un train à compartiments seulement (sans couloir ou toilettes). Nous voyageons pendant des heures. Nos compagnons de voyage sont des femmes et un vieux monsieur. Au bout d’un moment, j’ai envie de faire pipi. Ma mère sort mon petit pot de chambre. Le vieux monsieur est horrifié. Il veut que ma mère me tienne en dehors de la fenêtre du train en marche. Je refuse en hurlant. Je pleure à gros sanglots. Les autres femmes le disputent. Finalement, je fais pipi dans le pot. Le vieil homme m’ignore après cet incident.

Reviews

"It is a captivating book that one doesn’t want to put down. [...] The style is straightforward and clear. Indeed it sounds as though it is based on diaries written [...] at the time.

"[The book] is also a revealing social history of Vichy France. [...] I won’t spoil the pleasure of reading the book by listing even a few of these inferences except [this] one: there is clear evidence of a decline in the morale of the German army towards the end of the war." An Amazon UK reviewer.

"Looking for a short book written in relatively easy French ? Interested in reading a new perspective on World War II? Cinq ans dans la vie d’une petite fille, 1940-1945 might be just what you need. Jeannine Pastor-Goulding was four and half years old and living in Menton, in south-eastern France when the war began, but even at 70 she vividly remembers what it was like to be forced to move repeatedly, to be separated from family, to be hungry for weeks on end. It’s a fascinating and uncommon look at European history." L.K. L., www.about.com

SoundsFrench.co.uk

Cinq ans dans la vie d’une petite fille, 1940 - 1945