A Bridge to Elne

It was the best novel I''ve read in 10 years! Concisely written and historically accurate, "A Bridge to Elne" is a gripping depiction of humanity''s ability to survive its darkest hours. Through a French Résistance fighter, Marcel Pointer, and a German officer who despises his regime, Johann Weller, the reader visits a nebulous underworld where the lines between hunter and prey vanish, as they share a common will to endure.War brutalizes the soul perhaps as much as the body, leaving...
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It was the best novel I''ve read in 10 years! Concisely written and historically accurate, "A Bridge to Elne" is a gripping depiction of humanity''s ability to survive its darkest hours. Through a French Résistance fighter, Marcel Pointer, and a German officer who despises his regime, Johann Weller, the reader visits a nebulous underworld where the lines between hunter and prey vanish, as they share a common will to endure.War brutalizes the soul perhaps as much as the body, leaving only the strong to pick up the pieces and march on. This book is as much about the strength of the human soul as it is about good eclipsing evil. I hopefully look forward to seeing it one day on the big screen. Victoria Aldrich, Daytona Beach News JournalLike Historical fiction? War novel? Blood & guts? Well, this FIRST NOVEL by L.E. Indianer is none of those things and yet all of them. It''s an historical novel in that it''s set in France during WWII, but it has none of the mind-numbing detail of a 600-page semi-documentary. It''s a war novel in that it''s set during WWII. Blood and guts? Yes & No. It''s not gruesome and explicit but it does contain elements of these because of the nature of subject matter.Well, what IS IT about? It''s an HISTORICAL novel, set during WWII that follows a family through the hardships of survival in an occupied country. The father is a member of the French Resistance and, after finding a "safe" place for his wife and family, continues to fight the Germans with the goal of freeing France.The reader follows the Pontiers through the war. It''s a wonderfully humane treatment of what things may have been like from all points-of-view, both French & German.Read it. You''re in for a treat. Leanne Polsue, Lucent TechnologiesThis novel is based on a true story and is full of wonder and suspense. The characters are brilliantly real and very well described throughout the story.The style of this book tends to make one feel as if they are right there with Marcel in that time period, fighting alongside him. This reviewer picked up the book to do a "quick skim" of it, and was unable to put it down; its story is so fascinating. As the author puts it so well, "sometimes in war, as in our life, you have to make tough decisions."ELNE is one of the best books, based on a real story, that I have ever read. I think that it would make an excellent movie. Laura T., Book Reviewer www.ReadersRoom.comA BRIDGE TO ELNE is based on a true story of a courageous family who endured the German occupation of France during WWII. Marcel Pointer is a successful dentist in Marseille until Nazi brutality leads him to join the Maquis, the militant branch of the French Résistance. He conducts several successful raids against the Vichy and the Germans, and is arrested by the Gestapo. After beating and interrogating him without obtaining evidence of his guilt, they finally release him. Aware of the increased danger, he decides to move his wife Angelina and their four children to Elne, a small village at the foot of the Pyrenees near the Mediterranean Sea. He returns to fight, leaving them with Paul and Elizabeth Courty, Angelina''s parents, and her sister Paulette. In November 1942, the Germans move their troops into the southern, unoccupied zone of France. Captain Johann Weller is sent to Elne with his German engineering battalion to build fortifications along the Mediterranean coast. Each family in the village is ordered to house a German officer. Johann is assigned to the Courty home. At first there is much tension, but with time Johann earns a degree of respect from the Courty''s and Pontier''s. He is not the evil monster they had expected. That doesn''t alter the fact that by participating in the occupation, he is helping to further the Nazi cause with all its evil. Paulette comes to know him well, and over time they develop a close relationship. Only the taboos created by the war and occupation keep her from responding to his overtures. Paulette works for the mayor of