A Packhorse Called Rachel

A story of courage, fear and defiance based on the authors own personal experience. A Pack Horse Called Rachel is the remarkable tale of a young woman, half Jewish, caught in the extraordinarily brutal world of France in 1944. Rachel moves through the pages of the book with her faithful dog Nourse, touching lives as her work with the Maquis based in the Auvergne takes her perilously close to danger on a day to day basis.The story is based on personal experience, the description of historical events is as true as memory will allow, it is an elegantly written story capturing first hand Kellermann’s painful and lonely life as a resistance fighter within the ‘Maquis’, amidst the harsh beauty of the Auvergne. Beset by the freezing cold climate prevailing in winter, the Vichy traitors amongst the normal French Population and the hostility of ordinary people afraid for their own lives. Rachel overcomes the initial animosity and mistrust of the lecherous and alcoholic farmer Raboullet on whom she comes to rely; the wrath of the Gestapo, the betrayal of St Pré, a full and passionate love affair, tragic loss and yet she survives. Marcel Kellermann notes, with descriptive talent, and intricate detail that only someone especially observant could recall. From the opening raid to the closing trial, the book gives an incisive view, as we understand the mind and soul of the resistance better with each page. This is the story of a young woman paralleled with the struggle of a nation as it regains its courage to fight back.

'A Fascinating Tale, And True, Beautifully Written' , Fay Weldon This piece is based on personal experience, and the description of historical events is as true as memory will allow, although all names have been changed. It is beautifully written and at the same time realistic. It contains some fine characterisations of the friends and foes the heroine meets as it describes the difficulties resistance fighters, the 'Maquis', in the Auvergne had to face: the climate prevailing in winter, the Vichy traitors and the hostility of ordinary people. She succeeds in her mission, overcoming in an incongruous friendship the initial hostility and mistrust of the lecherous and alcoholic farmer Raboullet whom she has to rely on, the ire of the Gestapo and the betrayal of St Pre who denounces her as a 'terrorist'.