REVIEW: 'Village of Scoundrels,' by Margi Preus

In a remote mountain village in southern France, the shadow of World War II is creeping closer.

Local guesthouses are full of young Jews who have fled Nazi roundups from German territory and occupied northern France. In the village, they blend in with other young people, drawn by the area's progressive school and its fresh mountain air.

When a French police officer, Perdant, arrives in the middle of winter, all seems quiet — on the surface.

But his appearance sets off a series of alarms: from German refugee Henni and her housemates, who are about to celebrate Hanukkah; from Jean-Paul, a Jewish medical student who is blocked from school and now forges identity cards; and from Philippe, a people smuggler who fled to join the resistance after the Germans occupied his hometown in Normandy.

Perdant suspects the villagers are harboring Jews. But when he attempts to investigate, he is thwarted at every turn by locals who sing loud songs to distract him, shower his targets with gifts, or claim they "don't know what a Jew looks like."

At the heart of "Village of Scoundrels" is a question: How can individuals act with integrity in a time of evil?

Two of the novel's characters explore that question: French teenager Celeste, who realizes halfway through the novel that her Jewish classmates and friends "were having a very different experience than her own" as she overcomes her fear to help the resistance.

Duluth writer and Newbery Honor winner Margi Preus vividly brings her fictional town, Les Lauzes, to life, especially its silent winters, walled off from the world by harsh winds and massive snowdrifts, and the sledding and celebrations of light that make them bearable.

As the town thaws in the spring, the plateau comes alive with banks of spring wildflowers, the smells of the forest and the sound of cowbells.

While some of the book's large cast of characters, especially the adults, tend to blur together, Preus convincingly creates a portrait of an entire community that developed strategies of nonviolent resistance as war and genocide swept across France.

Based on the true story of Le Chambon-sur-Lignon, which helped more than 3,500 Jews escape or hide during the war, the novel includes an extensive epilogue connecting characters to their historical counterparts.

Following the war, more than three dozen villagers were recognized by world Holocaust center Yad Vashem for their extraordinary efforts. In response, they said, "Things had to be done and we happened to be there to do them. It was the most natural thing in the world to help."

Village of Scoundrels
By: Margi Preus.
Publisher: Amulet Books, 304 pages, $16.99.
Events: 7 p.m. March 26, Zenith Bookstore, Duluth; 3 p.m. March 28, Red Balloon Bookshop, 891 Grand Av., St. Paul.