The Lost Child

The author was eleven years old when World War II ended. An older brother died before Ken was born but Herschel would have been a GI if he had lived. In 1945, Herschel would have returned home with the woman he met while on vacation in France in 1940. This is her story: Marie-France Mirage has a promising career in grand opera when Germany invades France. Her uncle heads a resistance cell. He urges her to accept a German general’s employment offer as secretary and translator then demands that she encourage General Fischer’s advances; Marie-France becomes the general’s mistress. With General Fischer’s assistance, Marie-France is invited to sing for Hitler’s birthday celebration. She and her uncle plan an assassination; the plot cannot be implemented but Marie-France returns to Paris with microfilm of Hitler’s secret weapon, the V-1 rocket. For four years, Marie-France passes critical information to the Allies, helps downed airmen get back to England, and saves Jews destined for death camps. Everyone in her cell dies except Marie-France. The secret of her dual role is kept so well that she is accused and convicted of collaboration; in her case, a capital offense.