Pierre-Jacques Ober and Jules Ober, Jacqueline, A Soldier’s Daughter, Ford Street Publishing, October 2021, 104 pp., RRP $34.95 (hbk), ISBN 9781925804911
Jacqueline was only eight when the Second World War began. Her father became a soldier and her mother and Jacqueline went to a farm. Life was cold and difficult, with only a dog for a friend. Her mother rode her pushbike with Jacqueline on board to rescue her father when he became a prisoner and together they travelled to Algeria, where they lived until the end of the war. That is only an outline of the adventures they had and the dangers the family faced. The story relates an actual experience the Obers’ mother had as a small girl.
It is a picture book with ‘photographs of figurines in miniature sets’ which is very successful, adding further realism to a graphic story. There is a poignancy and a hint of suffering which draws us into France in the 1940s, which its young readers are likely to experience. Life is often difficult, and it’s necessary to know that.
Reviewed by Stella Lees
