Outwitting the Gestapo

By: Lucie Aubrac, Translated by Konrad Beiber, Betsy Wing

Narrated by: Nadia May

Length: 9 hrs and 25 mins

Publisher's summary

What was it like to be a citizen fighting the Nazis? Lucie Aubrac, of Catholic and peasant background, was teaching history in a Lyon girls' school and had just married Raymond, a Jewish engineer, when World War II erupted and divided France. The couple, living in the Vichy zone, soon joined the Resistance movement in opposition to the Nazis and their collaborators. This is Lucie's harrowing account of her participation in the Resistance; of the months when, though pregnant, she planned and took part in raids to free comrades - including her husband, under Nazi death sentence - from the prisons of Klaus Barbie, the infamous "Butcher of Lyon."

(P)1996 by Blackstone Audio Books; ©1993 by The University of Nebraska Press; Published by Arrangement with The University of Nebraska Press, All Rights Reserved.

Critic reviews

"This book is perfectly formatted for the ear....Jeff Woodman and Jonathan Davis's delivery maintains a conversational tone. Their easy pace sounds like they're explaining these complex topics to a friend, and they're quite sensitive to the humor of the book. Enjoyable and educational..." (AudioFile)

Mind Blown

Quite frankly, Yes, this blew my mind, and I want to shout at everyone I know to READ THIS (or listen, as I did; the narration is sublime). It's a must read book. It's old, but I was looking about something on Lyon, France, where I studied abroad during law school and incidentally learned some about the resistance. It always has amazed me that a popular historical novel about Lyon during WWII doesn't exist in English (that I know of, so if you know of one please please tell me). Non-fiction and surreal, considering the difference in how I listened to it now verses several years ago. Important stuff, and what a woman!!!

mixed review

Although I admire the author for her incredible bravery, I thought the book was a little unorganized. The author jumped from past to present, and included some very French references that I was not familiar with. All in all, it's an interesting book, just not an outstanding one.

Impressive

I enjoyed learning about this period in Lucie Aubrac’s life. Stories like this are always so captivating because they are true! Like the story of Nancy Wake, I am immensely impressed with these women’s determination and courage. Would I be the same in their shoes? I hope so.

The audio qualify of this book was not great – it sounded tinny, the gaps between the chapters were sometime a beat too long making me wonder if the recording stopped, they even unsuccessfully tried to edit out the sound of a ringing phone!

Wrong Accent

Would you consider the audio edition of Outwitting the Gestapo to be better than the print version?

I didn't read the print version, but I would probably have preferred the print over the audio because of the strong British accent of the reader. It should have been read with a French accent.

What did you like best about this story?

It was amazing that she was able to pull it off without getting caught.

Would you listen to another book narrated by Nadia May?

Only if it were a British story. Her accent was all wrong for this story. It would have been much better read by someone with a French accent.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

The accent was distracting from the story. I had to keep telling myself to listen to the story not the accent.