Heroic Measures

"With the coming of the Second World War, many eyes in imprisoned Europe turned hopefully, or desperately, toward the freedom of the Americas. Lisbon became the great embarkation point. But, not everybody could get to Lisbon directly, and so a torturous, roundabout refugee trail sprang up—Paris to Marseille, across the Mediterranean to Oran, then by train, or auto, or foot...”

And so begins Casablanca, a black-and-white celluloid classic, exquisitely coloured with acts of heroism in a world turned upside down—and not unlike the keenly observed Villa Air-Bel: World War II, Escape and a House in Marseille, the page-turning account of many European artists’ and intellectuals’ escape out of occupied France to safety. Who better to guide the reader through their complex and difficult passage than the acclaimed poet and award-winning biographer Rosemary Sullivan? After the publication of Shadow Maker: The Life of Gwendolyn MacEwen, which...