---
product_id: 58698590
title: "Welcome to the Free Zone (Hesperus Classics)"
brand: "nathalie garaladislas gara"
price: "€ 23.00"
currency: EUR
in_stock: true
reviews_count: 4
url: https://www.desertcart.fi/products/58698590-welcome-to-the-free-zone-hesperus-classics
store_origin: FI
region: Finland
---

# Welcome to the Free Zone (Hesperus Classics)

**Brand:** nathalie garaladislas gara
**Price:** € 23.00
**Availability:** ✅ In Stock

## Quick Answers

- **What is this?** Welcome to the Free Zone (Hesperus Classics) by nathalie garaladislas gara
- **How much does it cost?** € 23.00 with free shipping
- **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship
- **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.fi](https://www.desertcart.fi/products/58698590-welcome-to-the-free-zone-hesperus-classics)

## Best For

- nathalie garaladislas gara enthusiasts

## Why This Product

- Trusted nathalie garaladislas gara brand quality
- Free international shipping included
- Worldwide delivery with tracking
- 15-day hassle-free returns

## Description

Welcome to the Free Zone (Hesperus Classics)

## Images

![Welcome to the Free Zone (Hesperus Classics) - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41-KCKaNVsL.jpg)
![Welcome to the Free Zone (Hesperus Classics) - Image 2](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/419yhImDqPL.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    Interesting historical content
  

*by R***B on Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 20 September 2013*

The background of Welcome to the Free Zone is interesting and it is based on the experiences of the authors during the war.  There are, however, far too many characters.  Each could be fascinating in their own right but with so many it was sometimes difficult to recognise them again when they reappeared in the plot.  There are often variations in the style of writing that jar.  Perhaps this is because it was written by two people initially.  A bit of a struggle but some humorous gems and insights within it.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    Engaging and many-layered
  

*by J***O on Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 12 February 2014*

I was sent this book as a gift, although it is not the kind of book I normally read. I was initially amused, soon engaged and ultimately hooked on this many-layered story of the experiences of Jews - and, perhaps more significantly, non-Jews - in wartime rural France. There are indeed many characters, but each is distinctively drawn and lifelike, and all contribute to the multi-faceted fabric of the tale. It is unconventional and absorbing, and one is rarely aware that it is a translation, so fluently does it read. It took a long time to appear in English, but Bill Reed and Hesperus have done the book proud. If you like your novels to be revealing of human nature and behaviour, whatever the period and setting, do read this one.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    A special book and a timely translation
  

*by J***D on Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 17 February 2015*

Welcome to the Free Zoneby Nathalie and Ladislas Garatranslated by Bill ReedThis book is special, in my view, and its translation into English is so welcome as this important account of second world war life for the Jews in Vichy France will reach more people.  If I were you, I would read it...this year preferably.The most interesting thing about the book is that it was published in French as early as 1946 and therefore it is a simple witness account by the authors who are telling a story as it unfolds and without knowing where this story will end.  Thus, the way in which history closes in on its victims, the Jews, towards the end of the book is more real to us and more affecting than many a novel written post-war when the cruel facts became universally known.  We get a sense of what events may have felt like to those people inside them.  But we, who are fully aware of the outcomes, cannot be observers of this experience in the same objective and grounded way.The characters in the book, placed half-way perhaps between fact and fiction in the imaginary village of Saint Boniface, go about their daily lives buying, selling, drinking, playing chess, gossiping and slighting each other.  They are ordinary people and are in no way sentimentalised.  The book is full of humour.  Basic commodities such as potatoes feature strongly.  The animals in the village have their own stories.  Into the lives of these characters come other ordinary people, three Jewish families, who, with other Jews, are trying to live a safe life in Free France.  They participate in agriculture, politics and the communal ways of the village.In various parts of the book, there is discussion of the Jewish community and its contribution to France; such mixed comments come from the mouths of the ordinary people of Saint Boniface and I think it is possible to take them as authentic.  Again, the book bears important witness to the mentalities of the communities in Vichy France.The authors make no moral judgments.  No-one is perfectly innocent in Saint Boniface as many are on the make in the face of bureaucracy about such matters as rations, weights and measures and identity papers.  But no-one is guilty either.  The postman and the very punctilious but dim gendarme stand for the spies and the fascists but they are still members of the community.  The German/French collaborating authorities do not themselves appear.The other thing we learn from this special book is that the authorities were not always as accurate in their work of the victimisation of the Jews as is sometimes portrayed.  Mistakes are made.  People are left off lists.  In the end, arbitrary fate perhaps had a strong hand in saving individual Jews while the fascist machine was bent on destroying the many.JG, February 2015

---

## Why Shop on Desertcart?

- 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016
- 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories
- 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price
- 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members)
- 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection
- ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews

**Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.fi/products/58698590-welcome-to-the-free-zone-hesperus-classics](https://www.desertcart.fi/products/58698590-welcome-to-the-free-zone-hesperus-classics)

---

*Product available on Desertcart Finland*
*Store origin: FI*
*Last updated: 2026-02-09*