A beautiful and bittersweet love story set in the real village of Oradour-sur-Glane which was cruelly and apparently randomly destroyed during the Second World War. Teenagers Luc and Arianne meet and fall in love. Ari is willing to do anything to stop Luc from joining the French Resistance movement but will it be enough? The absolute romance of first love is touchingly captured and made all the more poignant by the terrible circumstance in which it arises.
Faber, the publisher of this brilliant debut novel, is looking for short stories, poems or opinion pieces on the theme or love or war (or both). For more details on this take a look on www.facebook.com/thesparkpage - n.b. if you 'like' it you will be able to see all the content.
France: February, 1944. Arianne knew Luc as a child, of course she did. Everyone in Samaroux knows each other. But he's been away, and five years really makes a difference to a boy. A young man. As they fall headily into love - first love - their world starts to crumble around them. German forces are closing in, and the village is torn between cooperating to save themselves or putting up resistance and entering unknown danger. Arianne will do anything to make Luc stay. Luc wants to prove he is a man. And Romy, who has loved Arianne all the time that Luc has been away, can see a way of removing his rival, at any cost. How far will they go to protect what they believe in? And what will they do for love?
Natasha Farrant grew up in the heart of London's French community and currently combines writing with her career as a Literary Scout. She is the author of two successful novels for adults, Diving into Light and Some Other Eden, both published by Transworld. She lives in West London with her husband, two daughters and a large tortoiseshell cat. The Things We Did For Love is her first novel for young adults.
