Ninette's War

A coming-of-age story that unravels France's dark years of Nazi occupation with the paradox of who resisted, who betrayed and who collaborated. Compelling testimony to what it means to be forced to flee your home and yet emerge with optimism and plenty of life still to be lived -- Anne Sebba, author of LES PARISIENNES
Chronicling the harrowing story of her family's wartime experience and their dizzying fall from extreme wealth and privilege to homelessness, fear and hunger, Jay skilfully weaves extracts from Ninette's diary into a wider account of what happened to French Jews. In between typical teenage musings on clothes, spots and crushes on boys, Ninette's War is not an easy read, but at a time of rising anti-Semitism across the world, it is chillingly relevant -- Constance Craig Smith * Daily Mail *
An evocative, assiduously researched account of survival, [and] brutal reckoning with Vichy France's antisemitism and wilful complicity in wartime atrocities. Ninette Dreyfus was from a prominent Jewish family, who had lived in France for generations. Drawn from the diary she kept as well as interviews she gave Jay, family papers and secondary sources among extraordinary cases of escape and bravery... this is her story of fleeing wartime France, embedded in a rich historical background -- Francesca Angelini * Sunday Times *
Jay has done an expert job, not just of telling the story of the Dreyfus family, but also the shocking progression of France, from the first European country to emancipate Jews, to a place where French people denounced, betrayed and helped to murder them ... some believed that [their secular-mindedness] would save them, even after the Nazis occupied France. Ninette's War is as much a dissection of the tragic failure of that belief, as it is a family's story of precarious survival -- Emily Hourican * Irish Times *
The ripples of stories about the courage and tragic fate of Jews in Nazi occupied Europe still reach us. John Jay's reclaiming of the wartime odyssey in France of Ninette Dreyfus - aka Lady Swaythling in a later life in Britain - is spellbinding. A worthy recalling of the past in the dark times of the present -- Colin Shindler, Emeritus Professor, author of THE RISE OF THE ISRAELI RIGHT and ISRAEL AND THE EUROPEAN LEFT
John Jay's riveting account of the life of Ninette Dreyfus, daughter of one branch of the illustrious Jewish family, skillfully unfurls a fascinating, textured account of France's betrayal of the Jews during the Second World War. Cleaving to the details of her life and that of those around her, Jay provides a gripping and fresh narrative of ever-more astonishing, pacey and ultimately world-changing events. At a time when the Holocaust and the taboo against anti-Semitism moves further away in time, Ninette's War provides urgent context and details we must not forget, alongside a compassionate, elegant tribute to one brave woman's life -- Zoe Strimpel, historian and author of SEEKING LOVE IN MODERN BRITAIN
Ninette Dreyfus was from a prominent Jewish family, who had lived in France for generations. This is her story of fleeing the country in wartime -- Laura Hackett * The Times *
Praise for Facing Fearful Odds -- :
This book is a well-written and moving act of filial homage, where Jay discusses a father always beyond his reach ... leaving behind little more than a few pages of an abandoned memoir and book of poems, Facing Fearful Odds explores the mystery and tries to make sense of his father's tragic post-war life -- Nigel Perrin, author of SPIRIT OF RESISTENCE * Times Literary Supplement *
A pacey and well-researched from an impressive array of sources, Facing Fearful Odds is a moving testament to filial love. Jay has the journalists gift for moving a narrative along in a pacey fashion, and takes us to the heart of darkness where so many men like his father had to dwell, giving him a voice through this work of love -- Ben Barkow, director of the Wiener Library for the Study of the Holocaust and Genocide * Jewish Chronicle *
A fascinating account of life in a prisoner-of-war camp ... Facing Fearful Odds is remarkable reconstruction of one man's war and moving tale of endurance and courage * Daily Express *
A vivid and engaging description of [Alec Jay's] war experience * Hampstead & Highgate Express *
Well written with useful maps and interesting photos ... [will be] of interest to anyone looking for a soldier's tale of captivity -- The WW2 Escape Lines Memorial Society