They stayed in the little apartment until it was dark, burning the papers and anything that linked them to England. Then, with a few belongings packed in their cheap cardboard suitcases, they set out from the Rue de la Huchette, Paris, to the village of St Benoît-sur-Loire, within spitting distance of Orléans.
They dodged German soldiers who entered Paris in the morning, and then the French police – for France gave itself over to Hitler’s Reich during their journey, with Marshal Pétain setting up his puppet government in Vichy. They used their French papers, which turned them at a stroke from Caroline Railton Farthing and Josephine Grenot into Catherine and Anne Routon. Sisters.
They were to be known, later and to others, as Maxine and Dédé – part of a network called Tarot, which became famous, and infamous.
For the two girls the journey from Paris was a trip into fame which ended in oblivion, mystery, and intrigue.
To download the book and continue reading click here.