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MWSA Review
The Mapmaker: A Novel of World War II by Tom Young, is well written fiction based on real events and real people in 1943 and 1944. The story follows the difficult and treacherous happenings of the French Resistance as well as the efforts of the British pilots who assist them. There are various groups of resistance fighters with different missions: damage the railroads, delay convoys, gather intelligence on the location and size of troops. Among the many problems they face are that radio operators who contact England in code are targeted by the Germans, neighbors cannot be trusted, and captured resistance fighters are tortured for information about other members of the resistance and their plans. The Germans are very effective at torture.
Charlotte is half French and half American with map making and observational skills critical to the British bombers, but she must get her maps out of France. Phillippe is a French pilot who joined the British Royal Air Force after the French pilots were decommissioned by the Vichy government. One of his missions is to find Charlotte and bring her and her maps to England regardless of the cost to her colleagues, many of whom die so that Charlotte can escape the Germans. Charlotte has critical targeting information for the Allies on railroads. As D-Day nears, Phillippe takes timely aerial photos which Charlotte analyzes for the Allies. As Author Young says, “The Mapmaker demonstrates how individual courage and sacrifice set the stage for victory.”
Review by Nancy Kauffman
Author's Synopsis
Resistance operative Charlotte Denneau has critical targeting information for the Allies, and the Gestapo knows it. On the run across occupied France, she must prioritize her mission over the lives of the agents and civilians she needs to help her escape. Germans are taking down Resistance networks with disastrous results. Agents are being arrested, tortured, questioned, and turned. Charlotte never knows whom to trust. She communicates in coded radio calls to London, with the enemy always listening. More than anything, she needs a flight out—before the Nazis drag her to an interrogation chamber.
Philippe Gerard, a French pilot who joined the British Royal Air Force after the fall of France, faces an impossible mission: He must find Charlotte, land by moonlight to pick her up in a farmer’s field, and evade Luftwaffe fighters on the way back to England. But where is she? If he gets an all-clear signal over a dark pasture, is she really there? Or does the signal lure him into a trap?
In the critical weeks before D-Day, every contribution counts: A well-drawn map, a timely aerial photo, or a daring landing in a muddy field might make the difference between triumph and defeat. Inspired by real-life events from World War II, The Mapmaker demonstrates how individual courage and sacrifice can set the stage for victory.
Format(s) for review: Paper or Kindle
Review genre: Fiction—Historical Fiction
Pages/Word count: 296 / 86,000