Niels
Alexis Ragougneau
- Are you going to continue your comings and goings between life and death for much longer?
- As long as it takes. Why? Are you worried about me?
- You’re Jewish aren’t you? It’s insane. You know what they’ll do to you if they get you?
- I’m not scared. Copenhagen is my home. They are the invaders.
Denmark, 1943. Niels Rasmussen meets Sarah, a redhead girl. He joins the Resistance and excels at being a saboteur who remodels the occupied city, one explosion after another. When the World War ends, Sarah is expecting a child and the heros are lining up to collect their laurels. But a page of Parisien Libéré slipped into some anonymous mail will determine the course of destiny. Under the heading, “Epuration”, Niels reads:
The theatre director, Jean-François Canonnier, currently detained in Fresnes, will come before the Seine Court of Justice on 7 May. He will be defended by Master Bianchi.
Overcome by bewilderment, he embarks on a journey to save his “soul brother” which will make him question all he holds true about heroism, cowardice, the Resistance and collaboration.
An adventure novel and an introspective inquiry, Niels shrugs off literary genres and asks us: And you, what would you have done?