Book description
An extraordinary wartime memoir, combining the best kind of adventure
story with a coming of age testimony of unforgettable resonance and
poignancy.
September 2011, Halkidiki, Northern Greece
. A solitary 86 year-old man gazes across an Aegean headland, knowing
that he must finally confront his past. He begins to write...
September 1939, Nieppe, Northern France
. 14 year-old Stephen is living with his family, 25 kilometres from
Ypres. His French mother battles with her encroaching blindness. Failing
to escape the advancing German army, his English father can no longer
look after the war graves that cast so heartbreaking a shadow across the
region. Stephen and his friend Marcel embark upon their great adventure:
collecting souvenirs from strafed convoys and crashed Messerschmitts.
But their world turns dark when arrested and imprisoned for sabotage and
threatened with deportation or the firing squad. Upon his release, and
still only 16, Stephen is recruited by the French Resistance. Growing up
under the threat of imminent betrayal, he learns the arts of clandestine
warfare, and - in a moment that haunts him still - how to kill... Such
was the impact of Stephen Grady's work for the French Resistance,
(especially during the countdown to D-Day and its bloody aftermath) that
he was awarded the Croix de Guerre and the American Medal of Freedom.
Stephen Grady OBE was born in Northern France in 1925, the son of an
English father who was a head gardener in the Imperial War Graves
Commission. In 1941 he joined the French Resistance, carrying out
missions for which he was awarded the French Croix de Guerre with Silver
Star, the American Medal of Freedom, and a British mention in
Dispatches. After the liberation of France, he joined the British Army
and served as a Lieutenant with the Intelligence Corps, before returning
to a long career in the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, for which he
eventually became director of the France area. He now lives alone in
Greece. Stephen Grady OBE was born in Northern France in 1925, the son
of an English father who was a head gardener in the Imperial War Graves
Commission. In 1941 he joined the French Resistance, carrying out
missions for which he was awarded the French Croix de Guerre with Silver
Star, the American Medal of Freedom, and a British mention in
Dispatches. After the liberation of France, he joined the British Army
and served as a Lieutenant with the Intelligence Corps, before returning
to a long career in the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, for which he
eventually became director of the France area. He now lives alone in
Greece. Michael Wright, who worked with Stephen Grady on Gardens of Stone
, is an English writer based in rural France. He has published two
bestselling books about his life-changing experiences there: C'est la Folie
and Je t'aime à La Folie
. Michael Wright, who worked with Stephen Grady on Gardens of Stone
, is an English writer based in rural France. He has published two
bestselling books about his life-changing experiences there: C'est la Folie
and Je t'aime à La Folie
.
