The Child on the Terrace, the latest in my Dangerous Journeys series, takes Anne McPhail across Spain to Barcelona, into France and along the Mediterranean to Menton, a small town on the Franco-Italian border, where she and the child are in grave danger.

Menton has a storied past:

During WWII, the Germans occupied Menton until the onset of Operation Dragoon in 1944.

The Devil’s Brigade, a joint US-Canada Special Forces Unit, was established in 1942 by U.S. Lieutenant-Colonel Robert T. Frederick. The Brigade fought in the Italian campaign and the liberation of Southern France, among others.  A stealth unit, it never failed to achieve its objective.

Since the war it has been the model for special forces around the world. In Afghanistan, the Canadian J2F2 was reunited with the American Delta Force for the 2001 invasion.

Every year, Menton Week is celebrated on or about the anniversary of the unit being disbanded at Menton on Dec. 5, 1944.

 

I’m in the midst of the final proofreading of The Child on the Terrace, soon to be published by Cambridge Books.