Flanders, Easter 1944. Marie Pauwels, just turned sixteen, dreams of a more adventurous and romantic life than the boring and truncated existence under the church tower of Meenbeek. Also the war that has been raging for four years now, is quietly rippling and even seems to pass by the village. But appearances are deceiving. Especially when one Canadian bomber crashes just behind the farm one night and suddenly a lot of mums and Mestapos, as Uncle Berre calls the German soldiers, come to an end. Only the pilot can escape. To the anger of the SS and the local collaborators. Meanwhile, the landing of the American troops in Normandy in Belgium and the Netherlands is causing increasing tension and bloody confrontations between white and black. But the village will also be spared for the time being. Until that fatal Sunday, July 30, 1944, when a bullet causes a tragedy with terrible consequences …
MARIE, codenamed Jeanne appeared as the third book of the Pauwels trilogy. Marie is the daughter of METTE and the cousin of ULE. The book is also based on true events and takes place at the end of the Second World War in a Flemish village, where a stupid bullet has huge consequences.
Those who were not on that historic evening of the book presentation in Kazerne Dossin can visit their website.
Marie is nominated for the Kleine Cervantes, the Youth Literature prize of the City of Ghent. The first book of the PAUWELS trilogy, ULE, I was fourteen in 1914, was also awarded this prestigious prize a few years ago.