I identified in a very deep way with the individuals I was writing about because the theme that runs through this story is of extraordinary hardship and the will to overcome it. ↗
I lived for four years in the 1930s with these individuals and the only time that I wasn't thinking about dealing with physical suffering is when I was working on this book. I've never been more alive as when I worked on this book. ↗
I want the French people to respect values that allow each individual to practice his or her faith, but in the frame of our common rules of secularism. ↗