Sallyanne Grillo Artese

The Letters Sallyanne Grillo Artese

SallyAnne was too small to understand the tension of the adults around her when she was growing up.

But when they all had to duck into ditches and sleep in hay barns, even she understood she wasn't living in normal times.

In this book, she looks back at life growing up in war-ravaged France. Her family sat out the last four years of the war in their chalet, so close to the Swiss border that Royal Air Force pilots often came for shelter as they made their way over the mountains to the safety of Switzerland.

Her parents had become farmers, with sheep and a cow and an occasional pig. Her mother learned how to spin wool, make soap, tend the livestock, and do all the other complex and timeless work of a peasant farmer. The family even had a pet goat.

SallyAnne's mother also kept a journal during the war years, and in this reweaving, she brings in her own experiences and memories of a time when the world seemed to spin out of balance.