The first part dealt with the chaos before the German occupation of France. People fleeing Paris and trying to get to the country. What happened on their way, the misery and hopelessness. It shows both what the poor went through as well as the rich, who were often disgusting the way they looked down on others in such a time when all are in the same boat (sort of).
The second part talks about the German occupation of the country, of one particular village that had helped the refugees before (and hence you're familiar with some of the characters). How the villagers had to give up a lot to the Germans, but at sometimes were able to take advantage of them and make profits. How they had to share their homes with some of the officers, and the mixed feelings this all brings up.
When I was reading the first part I was wondering how the rest of the novel would go. It naturally focused on the French civilians' troubles and feelings. I had been thinking about what would one do in such a situation where you're dealing with the enemy face to face. Reading The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society had gotten me started on the idea. So I was wondering if the second part would continue with the same perspective.
Well, it didn't. It tackles both sides' feelings, but maybe more on the French side. The villagers are sometimes torn between treating these polite young German soldiers nicely, and feeling hatred because their sons/husbands/fathers are prisoners of war or have been killed in the war. The Germans on the other hand, definitely miss their loved ones. They also wonder how the French truly feel towards them, especially when they're ordered to go to Russia to fight.
I loved the book, but what made it better was reading the author's notes on how she was planning the rest of it. It gives you the chance to continue the story on your own with her guidelines as well as an idea of how she felt. The second appendix was correspondences first between her and her publisher asking for help to get through the tough times (because of her Jewish ancestry). Then they're between her husband and contacts trying to find out where she was taken. She only managed to send two letters after she was arrested. Later her husband was arrested as well and sent to the gas chamber. But the correspondence between their friends continue as they didn't know about their deaths. Their two little girls had to go in hiding, and even when the war was over and the prisoners returned they would go to the train station to try to find their parents. The appendixes got me crying, they're real life, not fiction.
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