detours mandated by the French army that are described in 33 jours; the couple had no news of their son until they were all reunited a month later in Saint-Amour.) With poetic economy and journalistic precision, Werth recounts his experiences as one of the estimated eight million civilians who fled the advancing German army's invasion of Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg and France in May–June 1940, possibly using notes set down during the event, as he did in the trenches in World War I (which he used for his novels Clavel soldat and Clavel chez les majors). Werth gave the manuscript to his friend Saint-Exupéry in October 1940 to smuggle out of France, write a preface for and publish in the U.S. The New York publisher Brentano's bought the rights (for a military parcel of cigarettes, gum, chocolates and water-purification tablets) and publication was planned for 1943, in expectation of which Saint-Exupéry referred to it as "un grand livre" (an important book) in his 1942 novel Pilote de guerre. For reasons unclear it was never published, and the manuscript effectively disappeared. When Saint-Exupéry realized that an English translation of 33 jours was not forthcoming, he extensively revised the preface (excising Werth's name to protect him) and published it as a stand-alone essay. Letter to a Hostage is an affecting meditation on home and exile set during the escape from France via Lisbon to the U.S. (he was on the same vessel as Jean Renoir) that enabled the pilot to continue his struggle against the Germans from abroad. It was not until 1992 that Viviane Hamy found and published the missing manuscript. In 2002 a student edition was produced, and 33 jours became part of the syllabus in French secondary schools. Hamy led a rediscovery of Werth, republishing many of his works in the 1990s and 2000s. 33 jours was finally published in English in 2015 as 33 Days in a new translation by Austin Denis Johnston. Deposition 1940-1944 Three years after 33 Days appeared in English, Oxford University Press published the diary Werth wrote when he reached Saint-Amour after his exodus on the roads, sub-titling it "A Secret Diary of Life in Vichy France." It is translated by David Ball. Had it not been “secret,” the authorities would have had two reasons for deporting its author to Auschwitz: not only was he Jewish, he was subversive. Deposition is his sharply observed, often