Status
Available
Call number
Genres
Publication
Uppsala : Gebers, 1958.
Description
HTML:One of Nevil Shute�??s most exciting novels, Pied Piper is the gripping story of one elderly man's daring attempt to rescue a group of children during the Nazi invasion of France. It is the spring of 1940 and John Sidney Howard wants nothing more than to enjoy his fishing holiday in southern France in peace and quiet. However, the Nazi conquest of the Low Countries puts an end to that, and he is asked by friends to take their two children back to England. Crossing France with his young charges seems simple enough at first�??until the Germans invade, rendering them fugitives. As Howard struggles to sneak across France, he picks up several more helpless children of various nationalities. They walk for miles in an endless river of refugees, strafed by German planes and hiding in barns at night. By the time Howard and his flock of little ones reach the Channel, his plan of escaping on a fishing boat has become utterly impossible, and in their final confrontation with the invaders, all their lives are at… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member DeltaQueen50
My admiration for Nevil Shute rises after each of his books that I read. I thought Pied Piper was a wonderful story that captured not only the fear and confusion of finding oneself trapped behind enemy lines with no certainty of reaching home but also the frustrations and joys of travelling with
Circumstances turn grim for this little group as the Germans overrun France much quicker than anyone expected and Howard finds himself and the children cut off from escape. Also they appear to be picking up more children as they travel. Eventually he goes to the home of people that he met on a previous trip to France and the daughter of this family, Nichole, agrees to accompany him to the coast and help him and the children find a fisherman with a boat to get them over the English Channel.
This is a story to give one faith in the goodness of humanity. The characters are ordinary people that are willing to go to extraordinary lengths to save these children. Howard himself is a seventy year old man with a gentleness and decency that shines through every situation, his handing of the children is truly heart-warming. The children come across very real, caring more about play and food and not really understanding about the war. There is an uplifting moment when Howard discovers that there is a connection with Nichole that he didn’t know about, yet even with these sentimental events the book never feels contrived.
Pied Piper is both an exciting and believable story of courage and compassion in the face of danger and uncertainty and I loved it.
Show More
children. John Howard needed to get away and chooses the wrong time to go on a fishing vacation in France. When the war news turns bleaker and he is preparing to return to England, he is approached by an English woman whose husband is working for the League of Nations in Switzerland. They have decided to remain in Switzerland but as many feel the Germans will invade, she asks Mr. Howard if her two children could accompany him back to England. Thinking he will only be taking a straight forward train and boat journey he agrees to escort the children.Circumstances turn grim for this little group as the Germans overrun France much quicker than anyone expected and Howard finds himself and the children cut off from escape. Also they appear to be picking up more children as they travel. Eventually he goes to the home of people that he met on a previous trip to France and the daughter of this family, Nichole, agrees to accompany him to the coast and help him and the children find a fisherman with a boat to get them over the English Channel.
This is a story to give one faith in the goodness of humanity. The characters are ordinary people that are willing to go to extraordinary lengths to save these children. Howard himself is a seventy year old man with a gentleness and decency that shines through every situation, his handing of the children is truly heart-warming. The children come across very real, caring more about play and food and not really understanding about the war. There is an uplifting moment when Howard discovers that there is a connection with Nichole that he didn’t know about, yet even with these sentimental events the book never feels contrived.
Pied Piper is both an exciting and believable story of courage and compassion in the face of danger and uncertainty and I loved it.
Show Less
LibraryThing member NarratorLady
Here's Shute at his storytelling best: one evening John Sidney Howard is sitting out the Blitz in his club with a stranger and during some idle chit chat, mentions that he'd been in France that Spring. The stranger is confused: this was the Spring of 1940 when the Germans invaded France through
While vacationing in Switzerland Howard is willfully ignorant of the encroaching danger. Despite many attempts to find war work, he's been told he's too old. Then his son, an aviator, dies and he leaves England and the war behind. After weeks of fishing and ignoring the news, he's approached by an English couple who ask if he'll take their two children back to England with him; they will remain in Geneva where the husband works for the League of Nations. He agrees to this since he knows the children from the weeks they've spent in the same hotel and suddenly wakes up to the fact that the war has taken a bad turn.
A delay occurs on the first leg of the journey when the little girl develops a fever. A chamber maid at their hotel asks if he'll take her niece with them and deliver her to her father in London. He can't refuse, nor can he abandon a child on the road whose parents have been killed by a bomb, or a Dutch child being stoned by panicked villagers for being a "traitor". By now, pushing a pram with their belongings in it, the party has joined the refugees heading west. (This journey was also described in Irene Nemirovsky's Suite Francaise.) He manages to distract the children, find shelter in barns and to feed them; Shute states many times that the infinite patience of old age made this possible although not all old people are patient. But it's believable because Howard is such a gentle soul, sees his mission as his duty, and is ready to die if necessary to bring these children to freedom.
In Chartres, he finds a family he and his son once met on holiday and the daughter, Nicole, helps them by accompanying them to the Channel and arranging for a fisherman to take them across. This part of the trip is the most harrowing with a meeting with a German officer (you can just see Otto Preminger in the role), a revelation from Nicole, and a strange and novel twist to the story.
I loved the book but the ending was incredibly abrupt. I expected there to be some conversation between Howard and the unnamed person at the club - who is, indeed, telling us this story in the third person. Instead, they just say good-bye! There's also the problem of Howard's telling the story in the first place: the German has warned him that if any of this gets out, his French friends will be killed. And a warning to people with no knowledge of French: there's a lot of it here and it isn't always translated so could lead to confusion.
Anyway, here's my two cents about the reason for the abrupt ending of such a carefully constructed book: it was written in 1941 and published in January 1942. It's a timely tale and I'm sure the publisher was pushing for an early deadline. In July 1942 the movie (starring Monty Wooly) premiered. The screenwriter, Nunally Johnson, must have taken the pages from Shute as quickly as he wrote them to get the screenplay done that quickly! In any event, the book and the movie were a tremendous success. It was propaganda at its best: an enthralling story with a noble hero overcoming incredible odds.
Show More
Holland and Belgium, and Parisians were abandoning the city in droves. Did he have any difficulty? Not too much, says the seventy-year old Howard with great understatement, and then proceeds to tell his tale.While vacationing in Switzerland Howard is willfully ignorant of the encroaching danger. Despite many attempts to find war work, he's been told he's too old. Then his son, an aviator, dies and he leaves England and the war behind. After weeks of fishing and ignoring the news, he's approached by an English couple who ask if he'll take their two children back to England with him; they will remain in Geneva where the husband works for the League of Nations. He agrees to this since he knows the children from the weeks they've spent in the same hotel and suddenly wakes up to the fact that the war has taken a bad turn.
A delay occurs on the first leg of the journey when the little girl develops a fever. A chamber maid at their hotel asks if he'll take her niece with them and deliver her to her father in London. He can't refuse, nor can he abandon a child on the road whose parents have been killed by a bomb, or a Dutch child being stoned by panicked villagers for being a "traitor". By now, pushing a pram with their belongings in it, the party has joined the refugees heading west. (This journey was also described in Irene Nemirovsky's Suite Francaise.) He manages to distract the children, find shelter in barns and to feed them; Shute states many times that the infinite patience of old age made this possible although not all old people are patient. But it's believable because Howard is such a gentle soul, sees his mission as his duty, and is ready to die if necessary to bring these children to freedom.
In Chartres, he finds a family he and his son once met on holiday and the daughter, Nicole, helps them by accompanying them to the Channel and arranging for a fisherman to take them across. This part of the trip is the most harrowing with a meeting with a German officer (you can just see Otto Preminger in the role), a revelation from Nicole, and a strange and novel twist to the story.
I loved the book but the ending was incredibly abrupt. I expected there to be some conversation between Howard and the unnamed person at the club - who is, indeed, telling us this story in the third person. Instead, they just say good-bye! There's also the problem of Howard's telling the story in the first place: the German has warned him that if any of this gets out, his French friends will be killed. And a warning to people with no knowledge of French: there's a lot of it here and it isn't always translated so could lead to confusion.
Anyway, here's my two cents about the reason for the abrupt ending of such a carefully constructed book: it was written in 1941 and published in January 1942. It's a timely tale and I'm sure the publisher was pushing for an early deadline. In July 1942 the movie (starring Monty Wooly) premiered. The screenwriter, Nunally Johnson, must have taken the pages from Shute as quickly as he wrote them to get the screenplay done that quickly! In any event, the book and the movie were a tremendous success. It was propaganda at its best: an enthralling story with a noble hero overcoming incredible odds.
Show Less
LibraryThing member Meredy
Six-word review: Old man, young children, wartime odyssey.
Extended review:
In Pied Piper, Nevil Shute explores some of the same themes I've met in others of his novels. As in Trustee from the Toolroom, he shows us an ordinary man who faces an extraordinary situation and rises to meet it. As in A
I never read anything by Nevil Shute prior to April of this year, and this was my fourth of his novels. His writing expresses a spirit of adventure and a kind of down-to-earth honesty that I find engaging on both an intellectual and an emotional level. I also tend to trust British authors, and especially those of fifty or more years ago, to render the language with confident command and graceful style. Their education shows, as does their knowledge of the classics. I know I'm in good hands: my time will be well spent and my attention rewarded.
As this novel progressed and our main character, John Howard, took on greater and greater challenges, I began to hope for a certain kind of ending. I wanted Howard to realize and consciously acknowledge that he has accomplished more than he ever would have thought possible. I wanted him to feel his strength as it has grown under the pressure of circumstance. That this is not the ending Shute gave us tells me that he would not have considered such an ending faithful to his character. I trust Shute's authorial instincts well enough by now to assume that he knows his characters deeply and well. Still, the romantic in me would have liked to see it turn out that way for Howard.
But this is not a fault in the book; rather, it's one way in which a good novel holds up a mirror to ourselves and shows us aspects of our own being that we might not otherwise recognize.
Like the Japanese soldiers in A Town Like Alice, the Germans are depicted in shades of gray and not in undifferentiated black. I like the way Shute discovers humanity in all his characters, even the brutal ones. All human beings, of course, are no more and no less than what it is possible for human beings to be.
Each of the four Shute novels that I've read so far has afforded me one of the chief pleasures I take in reading fiction: I feel as if I'd had a real experience of some kind. I've been through something. I've gained a genuine sense of fulfilling some purpose and opening my borders to broader awareness. There's a kind of presence that lingers with me after the cover is closed, as if the spirit of the novel or its principal characters had joined some incorporeal fellowship of memory or mind or being. I welcome Shute's creations into that company.
Extended review:
In Pied Piper, Nevil Shute explores some of the same themes I've met in others of his novels. As in Trustee from the Toolroom, he shows us an ordinary man who faces an extraordinary situation and rises to meet it. As in A
Show More
Town Like Alice, he depicts wartime circumstances that force a motley group to undertake a very, very long and arduous journey and call on an unlikely person to assume the role of leader. In this case, the man is elderly and not physically strong, and the group consists of children stranded in occupied France. As in both A Town Like Alice and In the Wet, the author uses the narrative device of having a relatively uninvolved third party relate the tale that was told to him and/or bear witness to the main character's progress over time.I never read anything by Nevil Shute prior to April of this year, and this was my fourth of his novels. His writing expresses a spirit of adventure and a kind of down-to-earth honesty that I find engaging on both an intellectual and an emotional level. I also tend to trust British authors, and especially those of fifty or more years ago, to render the language with confident command and graceful style. Their education shows, as does their knowledge of the classics. I know I'm in good hands: my time will be well spent and my attention rewarded.
As this novel progressed and our main character, John Howard, took on greater and greater challenges, I began to hope for a certain kind of ending. I wanted Howard to realize and consciously acknowledge that he has accomplished more than he ever would have thought possible. I wanted him to feel his strength as it has grown under the pressure of circumstance. That this is not the ending Shute gave us tells me that he would not have considered such an ending faithful to his character. I trust Shute's authorial instincts well enough by now to assume that he knows his characters deeply and well. Still, the romantic in me would have liked to see it turn out that way for Howard.
But this is not a fault in the book; rather, it's one way in which a good novel holds up a mirror to ourselves and shows us aspects of our own being that we might not otherwise recognize.
Like the Japanese soldiers in A Town Like Alice, the Germans are depicted in shades of gray and not in undifferentiated black. I like the way Shute discovers humanity in all his characters, even the brutal ones. All human beings, of course, are no more and no less than what it is possible for human beings to be.
Each of the four Shute novels that I've read so far has afforded me one of the chief pleasures I take in reading fiction: I feel as if I'd had a real experience of some kind. I've been through something. I've gained a genuine sense of fulfilling some purpose and opening my borders to broader awareness. There's a kind of presence that lingers with me after the cover is closed, as if the spirit of the novel or its principal characters had joined some incorporeal fellowship of memory or mind or being. I welcome Shute's creations into that company.
Show Less
LibraryThing member TadAD
Shute takes the Pied Piper folk tale and turns it into a story of an old British gentleman who is caught in France at the onset of the German invasion during World War II. Not only must he try to get back to England before being captured by the invaders, but he acquires an ever-growing group of
I have always enjoyed Shute's writing. I find it quietly humorous, colorful, full of adventure when called for and, most of all, populated with richly-drawn characters—he's simply a born story teller. Of those books I've read, this is one of his best: John Howard is a wonderful character and his kindliness, courage and worries about the situation had me from the start. Though he published this in 1942, Shute resisted any temptation to fill this with tirades and was content to provide a simple, heart-warming, slightly poignant, and completely satisfying story.
Show More
children whose safety becomes his responsibility.I have always enjoyed Shute's writing. I find it quietly humorous, colorful, full of adventure when called for and, most of all, populated with richly-drawn characters—he's simply a born story teller. Of those books I've read, this is one of his best: John Howard is a wonderful character and his kindliness, courage and worries about the situation had me from the start. Though he published this in 1942, Shute resisted any temptation to fill this with tirades and was content to provide a simple, heart-warming, slightly poignant, and completely satisfying story.
Show Less
LibraryThing member whitewavedarling
I let this work sit quietly on my shelf for far too long. This quiet story of an elderly English man, unwittingly sucked into the chaos of WWII and the lives of numerous children, is both powerful and touching. Shute's writing is understated and unique, but the simple beauty of his language and
Show More
scenes is striking throughout. I hadn't read Shute before, but this book has made me a permanent fan. Absolutely, this text is worth exploring and passing on. If you're looking for an escape into something both worth your time and engaging, this is it. Show Less
LibraryThing member SandDune
Howard, (actually only approaching 70, but old by the standards of the day) sits in his London club recounting his story to another club member while an air raid thunders around then. Struggling to come to terms with the death of his son, Howard had recently decided to take a fishing trip to
This is a quiet story of a decent man doing the best he can in extraordinary circumstances, which doesn't shy away from some of the horrors of war:
Their rest finished, he led them out upon the road again. To encourage them upon the way he broke one of the chocolate bars accurately into four pieces and gave it to them. Three of the children took their portion avidly. The fourth shook his head dumbly and refused. ‘Merci, monsieur,’ he whispered. The old man said gently in French: ‘Don’t you like chocolate, Pierre? It’s so good.’ The child shook his head. ‘Try a little bit.’ The other children looked on curiously. The little boy whispered: ‘Merci, monsieur. Maman dit que non. Seulement après déjeuner.’ For a moment the old man’s mind went back to the torn bodies left behind them by the roadside covered roughly with a rug; he forced his mind away from that. ‘All right,’ he said in French, ‘we’ll keep it, and you shall have it after déjeuner.’ He put the morsel carefully in a corner of the pram seat, the little boy in grey watched with grave interest. ‘It will be quite safe there.’
Published in 1942, it's difficult to imagine this sort of book being written now. I can't help thinking that an equivalent would have an overly saccharine ending. I think I first read this when I was about 13 or so - I didn't think that I would remember it but certain episodes came back very clearly, so it obviously made an impression. Recommended.
Show More
France, to the Jura. But it's the spring of 1940 and Britain and France are at war with Germany. (With the benefit of hindsight, a holiday abroad seems a ludicrous idea, but in the spring of 1940, to a man whose experience of war was based on WWI, perhaps less so.) But as the weeks pass the military situation looks more and more ominous and Howard decides that he should return to England. On the eve of his departure, a fellow guest, Mrs Cavanagh, asks a favour of him: will he take her two young children back to England to stay with her sister? The Cavanagh's home is Geneva, where the husband works for the League of Nations, but there have been rumours of a German invasion there so Mrs Cavanagh has brought the children to the safety of France. But now it seems that France is not safe either, so as Mrs Cavanagh does not want to leave her husband, will Mr Howard not take them? And perhaps everything would have been well, but the youngest child, Sheila, falls ill upon the journey, and the ensuing delay means that Howard and his charges are overtaken by the German blitzkrieg. And like the eponymous pied piper, soon it isn't just the two children that Howard is shepherding across a collapsing France....This is a quiet story of a decent man doing the best he can in extraordinary circumstances, which doesn't shy away from some of the horrors of war:
Their rest finished, he led them out upon the road again. To encourage them upon the way he broke one of the chocolate bars accurately into four pieces and gave it to them. Three of the children took their portion avidly. The fourth shook his head dumbly and refused. ‘Merci, monsieur,’ he whispered. The old man said gently in French: ‘Don’t you like chocolate, Pierre? It’s so good.’ The child shook his head. ‘Try a little bit.’ The other children looked on curiously. The little boy whispered: ‘Merci, monsieur. Maman dit que non. Seulement après déjeuner.’ For a moment the old man’s mind went back to the torn bodies left behind them by the roadside covered roughly with a rug; he forced his mind away from that. ‘All right,’ he said in French, ‘we’ll keep it, and you shall have it after déjeuner.’ He put the morsel carefully in a corner of the pram seat, the little boy in grey watched with grave interest. ‘It will be quite safe there.’
Published in 1942, it's difficult to imagine this sort of book being written now. I can't help thinking that an equivalent would have an overly saccharine ending. I think I first read this when I was about 13 or so - I didn't think that I would remember it but certain episodes came back very clearly, so it obviously made an impression. Recommended.
Show Less
LibraryThing member JGoto
Nevil Shute's Pied Piper is the story of an old man and his attempt to bring several small children out of Occuppied France during World War Two. It was a decent read, but I have two complaints. First, I wish a map had been included in the book. His route and changes to it are mentioned again and
Show More
again throughout the book, but they had little meaning for me. The second concerns Shute's use of French. Perhaps this was the writing style of the day, but it is a habit I find pretentious at best. Shute tells us that all of the characters are speaking French, and then when an important part in the conversation comes up (the punch-line, so to speak) he switches to actually using French for emphasis. Of course, that leaves some readers (like me)clueless as to what was said. Very irritating, needless to say. Aside from that Pied Piper was a good story. I hear a movie was made from it. I'd like to see it - it sounds like the perfect plot for a riviting movie. Show Less
LibraryThing member Prop2gether
This story became a fabulous movie starring Monty Wooley as the shepherd with an unwanted group of children. I read the book because I loved the film, and I was not disappointed.
LibraryThing member Meredy
Six-word review: Old man, young children, wartime odyssey.
Extended review:
In Pied Piper, Nevil Shute explores some of the same themes I've met in others of his novels. As in Trustee from the Toolroom, he shows us an ordinary man who faces an extraordinary situation and rises to meet it. As in A
I never read anything by Nevil Shute prior to April of this year, and this was my fourth of his novels. His writing expresses a spirit of adventure and a kind of down-to-earth honesty that I find engaging on both an intellectual and an emotional level. I also tend to trust British authors, and especially those of fifty or more years ago, to render the language with confident command and graceful style. Their education shows, as does their knowledge of the classics. I know I'm in good hands: my time will be well spent and my attention rewarded.
As this novel progressed and our main character, John Howard, took on greater and greater challenges, I began to hope for a certain kind of ending. I wanted Howard to realize and consciously acknowledge that he has accomplished more than he ever would have thought possible. I wanted him to feel his strength as it has grown under the pressure of circumstance. That this is not the ending Shute gave us tells me that he would not have considered such an ending faithful to his character. I trust Shute's authorial instincts well enough by now to assume that he knows his characters deeply and well. Still, the romantic in me would have liked to see it turn out that way for Howard.
But this is not a fault in the book; rather, it's one way in which a good novel holds up a mirror to ourselves and shows us aspects of our own being that we might not otherwise recognize.
Like the Japanese soldiers in A Town Like Alice, the Germans are depicted in shades of gray and not in undifferentiated black. I like the way Shute discovers humanity in all his characters, even the brutal ones. All human beings, of course, are no more and no less than what it is possible for human beings to be.
Each of the four Shute novels that I've read so far has afforded me one of the chief pleasures I take in reading fiction: I feel as if I'd had a real experience of some kind. I've been through something. I've gained a genuine sense of fulfilling some purpose and opening my borders to broader awareness. There's a kind of presence that lingers with me after the cover is closed, as if the spirit of the novel or its principal characters had joined some incorporeal fellowship of memory or mind or being. I welcome Shute's creations into that company.
Extended review:
In Pied Piper, Nevil Shute explores some of the same themes I've met in others of his novels. As in Trustee from the Toolroom, he shows us an ordinary man who faces an extraordinary situation and rises to meet it. As in A
Show More
Town Like Alice, he depicts wartime circumstances that force a motley group to undertake a very, very long and arduous journey and call on an unlikely person to assume the role of leader. In this case, the man is elderly and not physically strong, and the group consists of children stranded in occupied France. As in both A Town Like Alice and In the Wet, the author uses the narrative device of having a relatively uninvolved third party relate the tale that was told to him and/or bear witness to the main character's progress over time.I never read anything by Nevil Shute prior to April of this year, and this was my fourth of his novels. His writing expresses a spirit of adventure and a kind of down-to-earth honesty that I find engaging on both an intellectual and an emotional level. I also tend to trust British authors, and especially those of fifty or more years ago, to render the language with confident command and graceful style. Their education shows, as does their knowledge of the classics. I know I'm in good hands: my time will be well spent and my attention rewarded.
As this novel progressed and our main character, John Howard, took on greater and greater challenges, I began to hope for a certain kind of ending. I wanted Howard to realize and consciously acknowledge that he has accomplished more than he ever would have thought possible. I wanted him to feel his strength as it has grown under the pressure of circumstance. That this is not the ending Shute gave us tells me that he would not have considered such an ending faithful to his character. I trust Shute's authorial instincts well enough by now to assume that he knows his characters deeply and well. Still, the romantic in me would have liked to see it turn out that way for Howard.
But this is not a fault in the book; rather, it's one way in which a good novel holds up a mirror to ourselves and shows us aspects of our own being that we might not otherwise recognize.
Like the Japanese soldiers in A Town Like Alice, the Germans are depicted in shades of gray and not in undifferentiated black. I like the way Shute discovers humanity in all his characters, even the brutal ones. All human beings, of course, are no more and no less than what it is possible for human beings to be.
Each of the four Shute novels that I've read so far has afforded me one of the chief pleasures I take in reading fiction: I feel as if I'd had a real experience of some kind. I've been through something. I've gained a genuine sense of fulfilling some purpose and opening my borders to broader awareness. There's a kind of presence that lingers with me after the cover is closed, as if the spirit of the novel or its principal characters had joined some incorporeal fellowship of memory or mind or being. I welcome Shute's creations into that company.
Show Less
LibraryThing member yourotherleft
Pied Piper starts out innocently enough when elderly John Sidney Howard decides to take a fishing holiday to Jura in France in an attempt to distract himself from the recent death of his son, a pilot in the RAF. Unfortunately, his timing in taking such a trip is uncommonly bad considering that he
Pied Piper is such a rich story. Howard starts out with two children and a certitude that surely France couldn't be taken and ultimately ends up desperately fleeing occupied France largely on foot with a growing troop of lost children. Really, it's brilliant Shute's occupied France filled with German soldiers busy making war and conquering juxtaposed with Howard and seven children under the age of eleven, children who have hardly the faintest idea of the danger of what's going on. Shute plays off their innocence against one of the darkest times in history as the children plea to see the tanks and the planes, even at their peril, happily swim in a creek as the Germans populate the countryside, and keep enquiring as to whether they will soon be riding the train with the sleeper car when, for British children, riding in a train at all could be perilous.
The stolid, grey-faced Germans looked on mirthlessly, uncomprehending. For the first time in their lives they were seeing foreigners, displaying the crushing might and power of their mighty land. It confused them and perplexed them that their prisoners should be so flippant as to play games with their children in the corridor outside the very office of the Gestapo. It found the soft spot in the armour of their pride; they felt an insult which could not be properly defined. This was not what they had understood when their Fuhrer had last spoken from the Sport-Palast. This victor was not as they had thought it would be.
As the old man traverses France in search of the best or, really, any way out, the children he meets and takes under his wing all have their own heart-rending stories and reactions to their situations that cast a different sort of light on the events of World War II. Along the way, Howard not only manages to fill up the void of his own history by attempting to escort the future out of a war zone, but also is re-acquainted with someone who will ultimately help him reconcile his own feelings about the loss of his son.
Pied Piper is a beautiful story with so many dimensions that I couldn't hope to chronicle here, nor would I want to, and risk ruining the experience of this story for others. It deals with so many aspects of World War II and occupied France that I'd hardly considered before and all in a story that's so engrossing that you barely realize the power of its insight until after you've nearly passed it by.
Show More
chooses to take this outing during early World War II when Germany is poised to invade France. As the threat draws closer, Howard obliviously enjoys the peace and fishing that the tiny hamlet of Cidoton has to offer. While there, he makes the acquaintance of an English woman and her husband, an officer of the League of Nations working in nearby Switzerland, as well as their two small children. Before long, the German threat can no longer be ignored, and Howard knows that he must make for England before France is overtaken. In fear, the two parents plea with Howard to take their two children, Ronald and Sheila, to stay with relatives in England while they remain to face whatever may come. Howard agrees, and thus begins their dangerous and unusual journey. When Sheila falls ill and delays their departure, Howard finds himself escorting the children across a country fraught with danger and facing the distinct possibility that it may just be impossible to get out. Pied Piper is such a rich story. Howard starts out with two children and a certitude that surely France couldn't be taken and ultimately ends up desperately fleeing occupied France largely on foot with a growing troop of lost children. Really, it's brilliant Shute's occupied France filled with German soldiers busy making war and conquering juxtaposed with Howard and seven children under the age of eleven, children who have hardly the faintest idea of the danger of what's going on. Shute plays off their innocence against one of the darkest times in history as the children plea to see the tanks and the planes, even at their peril, happily swim in a creek as the Germans populate the countryside, and keep enquiring as to whether they will soon be riding the train with the sleeper car when, for British children, riding in a train at all could be perilous.
The stolid, grey-faced Germans looked on mirthlessly, uncomprehending. For the first time in their lives they were seeing foreigners, displaying the crushing might and power of their mighty land. It confused them and perplexed them that their prisoners should be so flippant as to play games with their children in the corridor outside the very office of the Gestapo. It found the soft spot in the armour of their pride; they felt an insult which could not be properly defined. This was not what they had understood when their Fuhrer had last spoken from the Sport-Palast. This victor was not as they had thought it would be.
As the old man traverses France in search of the best or, really, any way out, the children he meets and takes under his wing all have their own heart-rending stories and reactions to their situations that cast a different sort of light on the events of World War II. Along the way, Howard not only manages to fill up the void of his own history by attempting to escort the future out of a war zone, but also is re-acquainted with someone who will ultimately help him reconcile his own feelings about the loss of his son.
Pied Piper is a beautiful story with so many dimensions that I couldn't hope to chronicle here, nor would I want to, and risk ruining the experience of this story for others. It deals with so many aspects of World War II and occupied France that I'd hardly considered before and all in a story that's so engrossing that you barely realize the power of its insight until after you've nearly passed it by.
Show Less
LibraryThing member Emma291
A beautiful story of age, and youth, of carrying on when your heart hurts. An old man finds himself responsible for an international group of children trying to make their way back to England through France, at the beginning of the Second World War.
LibraryThing member jayne_charles
Nevil Shute is excellent at depicting the effects of war on individuals. This book - telling the story of an elderly Englishman trying to leave France at the start of WWII, accompanied by two children, and as the book's title suggests ending up with several more - would be great to read alongside
Show More
historical studies. I enjoyed it and am keeping it on the shelf for my kids. Show Less
LibraryThing member nkmunn
So glad I read this one. I'd been looking forward to it for a long time and it didn't disappoint. Time and patience have their own roles in this story. Patience is rewarded, time keeps marching on and taking time to hear a story is rewarded best of all.
LibraryThing member toomanytoolittle
Without question one of the best books I have ever read. This is a tremendous depiction of humanity and grace in the face of the utter chaos and depravity of a nation falling into war. The amazing thing is that this was contemporaneously written in 1942 while the war was raging. A very simple story
Show More
that is a quick read, but is amazingly powerful. I can't recommend this beautiful story enough. Show Less
LibraryThing member DebbieMcCauley
This story begins in the smoking room of a London club during the 1940 Blitz. The narrator listens to the tale of an elderly man as they both decide to stay put and not seek shelter. After the death of his son, Englishman John Howard travelled to the South of France on a fishing expedition. In his
Show More
grief he is immune to the events taking place about him until two months later when the Nazis invade Belgium. The Second World War is declared and he must try to make his way back to England. He is asked to take a young brother and sister back to the safety of England which he agrees to reluctantly. Along his journey through various circumstances he picks up more children who need his help. The speed of the Nazi invasion is a constant threat. He has caught up with the daughter of an old acquaintance, Nicole, who helps him on his journey to the French coast. Howard discovers that he is not the only one who grieves for his son. This is a simply told tale of an elderly man trying to escape Nazi-occupied France with his entourage of children. The children, of course, slow down his route to safety, but his commitment to their safety and wellbeing is heroic. An excellent read. Show Less
LibraryThing member Stbalbach
In the early years of WWII, Britain shipped many children to the USA, Canada and elsewhere, to ensure they would not be hurt during the blitz or possible invasion. No doubt this book was a salve for the anxieties of separation. Removed from the historical context by 80 years, it's a nice story of a
Show More
pleasant man that leaves one with a good feeling of the kindness of strangers. Today, recommended as a salve after reading some horrific non-fiction about war, to restore belief in humanity. Show Less
LibraryThing member starbox
Highly readable tale of a well-to-do 70 year old British man who - after his son's death in the early days of WW2- goes to France for a fishing holiday. Things don't seem too bad out there, but tjhe situation abruptly worsens, and as he makes a sudden return to England, he agrees to take a diplomat
Will they make it, as the German presence becomes ever more pervasive? Jolly good read.
Show More
friend's two children back with him. But as trains are cancelled, hotels requisitioned, and bombings begin, the little goup, making their ramshackle way through France, encounter three other children in need of rescue...Will they make it, as the German presence becomes ever more pervasive? Jolly good read.
Show Less
LibraryThing member Bagpuss
During an air raid, a young man who has just dined in his London club decides not to go down to the air raid shelter. Instead he goes up to the bar where he joins the only other person there – an elderly man called John Howard. Left by the barman with a bottle of Marsala, they begin chatting and
Visiting a ‘safe’ area of France in 1940 to have a holiday and do some fishing, he spends a pleasant few days in a hotel, enjoying the peace and quiet during the day and getting to know the other guests at dinner time. But whilst he is there, news comes that the Germans are about to invade France and he resolves to leave. A young couple who live in Geneva persuade Howard to take their two children, Ronnie aged 8 and Sheila aged 5 back to England to stay with relatives where they will be safe. Howard eventually agrees and the next morning the three of them set off on their journey. It will be an easy one – a train to Paris and then another to St Malo, where they will be able to board a boat for the UK.
But plans are thwarted when Sheila becomes unwell. They make an unscheduled stop at Dijon, and whilst there, the threatened invasion takes place. Howard agrees to take an older child, niece of a maid at the hotel – but as transport becomes severely disrupted and they must continue their journey by any means possible – mostly on foot but occasionally by hitching a ride or finding a train that is running. Along the way, Howard, like the Pied Piper of Hamelin, picks up other children and a young woman and together they try to make it out of France and back to the safety of England.
I read this for a reading group discussion but I would have picked it up sooner or later as it’s been one I’ve been meaning to read for years – it was on my parent’s bookshelf long before I was married! What a fantastic story – I was hooked from the word go. It was wonderful – amusing in places, sad and happy at the same time – a story of hope and courage. Although the situation – an elderly man travelling with a group of children from ages 5 to about 12 – seems unbelievable, it isn’t at all – it’s totally convincing! I almost want to start it again from the beginning – and that seldom happens – highly recommended!
Show More
slowly the old man tells the younger of an amazing adventure he has had… Visiting a ‘safe’ area of France in 1940 to have a holiday and do some fishing, he spends a pleasant few days in a hotel, enjoying the peace and quiet during the day and getting to know the other guests at dinner time. But whilst he is there, news comes that the Germans are about to invade France and he resolves to leave. A young couple who live in Geneva persuade Howard to take their two children, Ronnie aged 8 and Sheila aged 5 back to England to stay with relatives where they will be safe. Howard eventually agrees and the next morning the three of them set off on their journey. It will be an easy one – a train to Paris and then another to St Malo, where they will be able to board a boat for the UK.
But plans are thwarted when Sheila becomes unwell. They make an unscheduled stop at Dijon, and whilst there, the threatened invasion takes place. Howard agrees to take an older child, niece of a maid at the hotel – but as transport becomes severely disrupted and they must continue their journey by any means possible – mostly on foot but occasionally by hitching a ride or finding a train that is running. Along the way, Howard, like the Pied Piper of Hamelin, picks up other children and a young woman and together they try to make it out of France and back to the safety of England.
I read this for a reading group discussion but I would have picked it up sooner or later as it’s been one I’ve been meaning to read for years – it was on my parent’s bookshelf long before I was married! What a fantastic story – I was hooked from the word go. It was wonderful – amusing in places, sad and happy at the same time – a story of hope and courage. Although the situation – an elderly man travelling with a group of children from ages 5 to about 12 – seems unbelievable, it isn’t at all – it’s totally convincing! I almost want to start it again from the beginning – and that seldom happens – highly recommended!
Show Less
LibraryThing member Kateingilo
A elderly Engilsh gentleman is caught in France as the Germans overrun the country. He tries to get out, and finds himself collecting children along the way.
LibraryThing member Bridgey
Pied Piper - Nevil Shute *****
There are many authors that at one time were very popular, and yet these days seem to have been almost forgotten in the mists of time. Unfortunately Nevil Shute appears to be one of these, and I really can’t understand why. True his books are ‘of a time’ but the
Pied Piper is no exception and stands as one the strongest works in the Shute catalogue. As usual with his novels there is no gratuitous violence, no dramatic sex scenes and no bad language, just pages and pages of well written prose with a gentle storyline that persuades the reader to join him over the duration.
We follow an elderly gentleman who becomes trapped in France just after the outbreak of the Second World War. He decides he needs to return home and somewhat reluctantly he agrees to take a friend’s children with him, as the parents fear for their safety with the approaching Nazi war machine. Desperately trying to make his way back home to England he picks up an ever growing number of children that have fallen on hard times (hence the title), and despite his advanced age shows us what the ‘Keep calm and carry one’ message really meant. With constant setbacks and obstacles in his path he must draw upon his ingenuity and limited resources. The journey however isn’t just a physical one and acts as a metaphor for the healing process he must undertake following the death of his son.
The plot has a number of twists and turns, and the ending when it comes is most unexpected. Although Shute is a subtle writer, when he needs to sock it the reader he is unafraid to add the specific details required and the reader is left under no illusion as to the horrors of war.
Shute should have a legacy as being the master of writing about ordinary people thrust into situations where they become extraordinary. Maybe this isn’t his greatest novel (my own favourite is ‘On the Beach’) but it as good a place to start as any.
There are many authors that at one time were very popular, and yet these days seem to have been almost forgotten in the mists of time. Unfortunately Nevil Shute appears to be one of these, and I really can’t understand why. True his books are ‘of a time’ but the
Show More
stories are just as relevant today and so stunningly told that I just can’t wait to turn the page.Pied Piper is no exception and stands as one the strongest works in the Shute catalogue. As usual with his novels there is no gratuitous violence, no dramatic sex scenes and no bad language, just pages and pages of well written prose with a gentle storyline that persuades the reader to join him over the duration.
We follow an elderly gentleman who becomes trapped in France just after the outbreak of the Second World War. He decides he needs to return home and somewhat reluctantly he agrees to take a friend’s children with him, as the parents fear for their safety with the approaching Nazi war machine. Desperately trying to make his way back home to England he picks up an ever growing number of children that have fallen on hard times (hence the title), and despite his advanced age shows us what the ‘Keep calm and carry one’ message really meant. With constant setbacks and obstacles in his path he must draw upon his ingenuity and limited resources. The journey however isn’t just a physical one and acts as a metaphor for the healing process he must undertake following the death of his son.
The plot has a number of twists and turns, and the ending when it comes is most unexpected. Although Shute is a subtle writer, when he needs to sock it the reader he is unafraid to add the specific details required and the reader is left under no illusion as to the horrors of war.
Shute should have a legacy as being the master of writing about ordinary people thrust into situations where they become extraordinary. Maybe this isn’t his greatest novel (my own favourite is ‘On the Beach’) but it as good a place to start as any.
Show Less
LibraryThing member JudithProctor
This book was recommended to me by a friend and I'm glad I read it.
It's set during WW2 and was written while the war was still ongoing and the outcome unknown.
War is not kind to old men. Too old to fight and with little sense of purpose, John Howard goes to southern France to take a break
While there, he is asked by an acquaintance if he will take their two children back to England for safety, as the war is spreading further and they no longer feel safe.
Howard agrees, but what should have been a simple journey home gets more and more complicated as the Germans start advancing across France. Trains get cancelled, food gets harder to find. Being English suddenly becomes very dangerous, and to make life even more difficult, there are other children that the war has left in dire straits.
One of the reasons this story works so well for me is that Howard is a very believable character. He's not a man given to emotional outbursts or temper - he's calm and organised and takes things as they come. Which is not to say that he isn't worried or concerned or uncaring, but he's 70 and he knows his own physical limitations and he also knows exactly how hard you can push young children before everything becomes too much for them. Therefore, when he has to take things slowly, he accepts that and doesn't waste energy over things he can't control.
He manages to shield the children, as far as he can, from a full understanding of what is going on around them, and oddly enough, this makes the reader even more aware of the impact of war.
In a quiet, understated way, this is war from the civilian angle, long streams of refugees, people dying in allied bombing raids, the ongoing struggle for food and shelter.
Do they make it safely to England?
Read the book and find out for yourself.
It's set during WW2 and was written while the war was still ongoing and the outcome unknown.
War is not kind to old men. Too old to fight and with little sense of purpose, John Howard goes to southern France to take a break
Show More
fishing.While there, he is asked by an acquaintance if he will take their two children back to England for safety, as the war is spreading further and they no longer feel safe.
Howard agrees, but what should have been a simple journey home gets more and more complicated as the Germans start advancing across France. Trains get cancelled, food gets harder to find. Being English suddenly becomes very dangerous, and to make life even more difficult, there are other children that the war has left in dire straits.
One of the reasons this story works so well for me is that Howard is a very believable character. He's not a man given to emotional outbursts or temper - he's calm and organised and takes things as they come. Which is not to say that he isn't worried or concerned or uncaring, but he's 70 and he knows his own physical limitations and he also knows exactly how hard you can push young children before everything becomes too much for them. Therefore, when he has to take things slowly, he accepts that and doesn't waste energy over things he can't control.
He manages to shield the children, as far as he can, from a full understanding of what is going on around them, and oddly enough, this makes the reader even more aware of the impact of war.
In a quiet, understated way, this is war from the civilian angle, long streams of refugees, people dying in allied bombing raids, the ongoing struggle for food and shelter.
Do they make it safely to England?
Read the book and find out for yourself.
Show Less
LibraryThing member jjmcgaffey
Interesting story - it kind of starts at the end, we know that at least the man got out of it. But the complications piling up are fascinating. And the attitude towards WWII, early on - oh well, yes, there's fighting over there but I'll just have a normal vacation trip - is fascinating (and I'm
Show More
pretty sure, accurate). The way he keeps accidentally collecting kids is both amusing and poignant - I was very close to crying at several points, not when crises were happening but just along the way. A purely civilian take on war - they're just caught up in events, and manage as best they can. Very rich (well, it is a Shute); some of the characters are very simply drawn but even ones we only meet briefly seem to have depths to them. Lovely. Show Less
LibraryThing member BookConcierge
This work of fiction was written in 1942, and set in 1940, so the events portrayed were contemporary. The basic story line involves an elderly British man, John Howard, who goes on holiday to France’s Jural Mountains, near the border with Switzerland in April, planning to stay three months. But
This is a road trip and a suspense thriller with an undercurrent of family relationships and love. Mr Howard is a marvelous character. He’s unaccustomed to children but does his best; the boy and girl are only eight and five, after all. They don’t know to be frightened of German soldiers or tanks or airplanes. They’re excited by the adventure. They also need to be fed and clothed and bathed and given shelter. Sometimes they need to be entertained or to play. Sometimes they just don’t want to walk any more, or eat dry bread, or speak French. Along the way Mr Howard encounters other refugee children. He can’t very well leave them alone, so he takes them along as well.
There are several people who help Mr Howard – a ride here, a place to sleep there. I really liked the subplot of Nicole, a young French woman whose father once befriended Mr Howard and who agrees to help him. Their conversations help to uncover the hurt and pain each has suffered and that they share. And the reader witnesses how they open up to one another and begin to heal from past hurts.
Courage does not always involve fighting the enemy. Mr Howard and Nicole display the kind of quiet courage that comes from a deep conviction that what they are doing is correct, and a strong faith that somehow, they will prevail.
Show More
the Germans begin to cross into France while he is on holiday, and he must make the decision to return to England. A British woman staying at the same small inn with her two children, asks him to please take the boy and girl with him to their aunt in England. He agrees, expecting a non-eventful journey of two days. But …This is a road trip and a suspense thriller with an undercurrent of family relationships and love. Mr Howard is a marvelous character. He’s unaccustomed to children but does his best; the boy and girl are only eight and five, after all. They don’t know to be frightened of German soldiers or tanks or airplanes. They’re excited by the adventure. They also need to be fed and clothed and bathed and given shelter. Sometimes they need to be entertained or to play. Sometimes they just don’t want to walk any more, or eat dry bread, or speak French. Along the way Mr Howard encounters other refugee children. He can’t very well leave them alone, so he takes them along as well.
There are several people who help Mr Howard – a ride here, a place to sleep there. I really liked the subplot of Nicole, a young French woman whose father once befriended Mr Howard and who agrees to help him. Their conversations help to uncover the hurt and pain each has suffered and that they share. And the reader witnesses how they open up to one another and begin to heal from past hurts.
Courage does not always involve fighting the enemy. Mr Howard and Nicole display the kind of quiet courage that comes from a deep conviction that what they are doing is correct, and a strong faith that somehow, they will prevail.
Show Less
LibraryThing member PilgrimJess
The story begins and ends in the smoking room of a London men's club. As bombs fall during the Blitz the unnamed narrator and an elderly John Howard decide to ignore the safety of the air raid shelter and remain in their armchairs with their Marsala. The conversation turns to fishing and in
Howard, seventy years old and unable to find something to fill his days becomes restless and decided to visit the French Jura. He is there in April when the Nazis invade Belgium. He makes immediate plans to return to England and reluctantly agrees to take two young English children along with him. So begins a road trip across France as they try to reach the French coast. Along the way Howard collects another five children of varying nationalities and is assisted by young French woman, the daughter of an old acquaintance, who shares a common grief with him. The fact that the story is being told in the first person means that I'm not giving too much away in saying that Howard is ultimately successful.
I found this a poignant tale of love, loss and loneliness where the Nazis are only the indirect enemy. Instead, the plot centres around the frailties of age, both in the very old and in the very young. Howard's weak heart, Sheila's and Ronnie's heedless English chatter coupled with their slow painful progress supplies much of the story's tension. The characters are well drawn, the prose is sparse but beautifully effective but perhaps what is most remarkable is that this story was first published in 1942, only two years after the events that it portrays supposedly happened and whilst WWII was still raging, its final outcome still unknown. This story speaks of another gentler age and deserves to be more widely read.
Show More
particular a recent trip that Howard undertook to France.Howard, seventy years old and unable to find something to fill his days becomes restless and decided to visit the French Jura. He is there in April when the Nazis invade Belgium. He makes immediate plans to return to England and reluctantly agrees to take two young English children along with him. So begins a road trip across France as they try to reach the French coast. Along the way Howard collects another five children of varying nationalities and is assisted by young French woman, the daughter of an old acquaintance, who shares a common grief with him. The fact that the story is being told in the first person means that I'm not giving too much away in saying that Howard is ultimately successful.
I found this a poignant tale of love, loss and loneliness where the Nazis are only the indirect enemy. Instead, the plot centres around the frailties of age, both in the very old and in the very young. Howard's weak heart, Sheila's and Ronnie's heedless English chatter coupled with their slow painful progress supplies much of the story's tension. The characters are well drawn, the prose is sparse but beautifully effective but perhaps what is most remarkable is that this story was first published in 1942, only two years after the events that it portrays supposedly happened and whilst WWII was still raging, its final outcome still unknown. This story speaks of another gentler age and deserves to be more widely read.
Show Less
LibraryThing member kslade
Good story of old man in France who helps children refugees and some orphans get to England as Germans invade in 1940.
Subjects
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1942
Physical description
227 p.; 20 cm