by John Nichols (Author)
Well-known New Mexico author, John Nichols, recounts the four-year marriage of his French mother and American father during World War II. Married in Paris, France, David and Monique struggle between 1939 and 1942 to make an idyllic life in Berkeley, California. That life is soon disrupted by Monique's refugee family members escaping the European horrors. Monique's health is fragile, and, when John is only two, she dies suddenly and tragically. Relying on the diaries, letters, and photos of family archives at home and abroad, Nichols creates creates a moving, often humorous portrait of the father he loves and the vivacious mother he never knew. The background story is a World War that impacted every aspect of their brief, yet remarkable, union.