One Woman's War: A Canadian Reporter with the Free French

Margaret Turner was Professor of English Literature at the University of Alberta in Edmonton.

Gladys Arnold’s memoir reveals an intelligent, courageous, and interesting woman, as well as a competent writer. Her account of the fall of France in 1941 and the growth of the Free French resistance shows her commitment to a political cause, her energy in pursuing that cause, and her personal and political objectivity. Born in Saskatchewan, Arnold went to Europe in 1935 to satisfy her “political curiosity” about socialism, communism, fascism, democracy, and the world-wide economic depression. She worked her way into a correspondent’s position with Canadian Press and remained in France until it fell to the Nazis; she then worked as information officer for the Free French out of Ottawa until 1947, and in this capacity for the French Embassy in Ottawa until her retirement in 1972.

The memoir is one woman’s war — Arnold does not attempt to provide a comprehensive account of the Second World War, or even the Free French movement, but simply relates in detail her life from the late 1930s until the end of the war. Her knowledge of the Free French is, however, comprehensive: although she does not indulge in political analysis, she does reveal an impressive knowledge and understanding of the issues and figures involved in the struggle for democracy in France. Her own position is stated clearly and unambiguously, not as political polemic but simply as background and explanation for the events in which she participated.

Arnold’s style is lively and accessible. The book is enriched by detail about wartime conditions in France and about friends and acquaintances, including other Canadians: she and Gabrielle Roy lived in the same boarding house in Paris, and they were acquainted while Roy was “deciding to be an actress or a writer.” Although the book is more about events and Arnold’s experiences than about Arnold herself, we do get some sense of a personality while we watch her fascination and affection for Europe and particularly France, which made her a willing expatriate, being replaced by her sense of belonging to Canada, which caused her to remain in her own country after the war.