Avenue of Spies: A True Story of Terror, Espionage, and One American Family's Heroic Resistance in Nazi-Occupied Paris

When German forces marched into Paris in June 1940, many of Adolf Hitler's highest ranking officials quickly took up residence along Avenue Foch, the exclusive boulevard near the Arc de Triomphe. Despite the close proximity of prominent military and gestapo officers, American physician Sumner Jackson and his French wife, Toquette, carried out clandestine opposition activities at their nearby residence throughout the war years. From a hospital in Neuilly, Jackson smuggled downed airmen out of France. Meanwhile, from their home on Avenue Foch, Toquette and son Phillip provided a safe haven for members of the French Resistance. Based largely on personal interviews with Phillip, best-selling author Kershaw (The Bedford Boys; The Longest Winter) relates the remembered stories of one heroic family against the backdrop of larger world events. This book joins a growing number of accounts of life in France under Nazi occupation, including Ronald C. Rosbottom's When Paris Went Dark, Caroline Morehead's Village of Secrets, and Peter Grose's A Good Place To Hide.