The Light from the Dark Side of the Moon

In Gautreau's historical novel, a World War II veteran looks back on the war years and the love that he had for a beautiful woman in the French Resistance. Even though he's 92, Henry Budge hasn't slowed down very much. He still takes his beloved dog, Arlequin, for walks along the Boston waterfront, and he regularly goes to the gym. A great adventure awaits, however, as he's planning on going to Normandy for the 70th anniversary of D-Day. When Henry was injured in France during World War II, he was rescued by members of the French Resistance. A beautiful violin player named �lodie captured his heart as he joined her on a mission to guide Jewish children to England. But now, the elderly Henry has a hard time remembering details about her: "I can never tease out memories of her beyond a half-lidded blur, scumbled images, murky as if seen through a film of cracked varnish." In Boston, Henry comes across a sexual assault in progress, and although he heroically beats the attacker with his cane, he ends up getting shot himself. New recollections from the war flood his mind, but his severe injury puts his travel plans in jeopardy. However, Henry is undeterred, as his memories of �lodie urge him on. Over the course of this novel, Gautreau shows Henry to be an amiable and worthy protagonist for a wartime story--one that's awash in historical detail but always leans toward romance. Throughout the narrative, the old man's voice is at once passionate and annoyed by generic platitudes, and Gautreau consistently manages to make the story's transitions across decades seamless. The author effectively describes the horrors of war and the many French villages with sharp clarity, and the luminous prose succeeds in making the love story at the center of the narrative strong enough to withstand the chaos. An entertaining historical romance about courageous people.

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