Yours is the Earth by Margaret Vail ~ 1944. This edition: Lippincott, 1944. Hardcover. 287 pages.
My rating: 10/10
Provenance: The Final Chapter, 1157A 3rd Ave., Prince George, B.C. – I have never walked out of this smallish but well-organized, eclectically stocked, jam-packed used book store empty-handed. If you’re ever in P.G., it’s very much worth a visit and a browse.
Yours is the Earth was a last-minute impulse buy earlier this year, a small triumph of instinct and luck over economy. As you can see, the cover isn’t terribly compelling – the “ringing, unforgettable testament of courage” and “Nazi hordes” references leading one to think that this may not be particularly well written, and perhaps slightly overwrought in tone.
If you think that (as I did) you’d be wrong; this is a remarkable work. It is very competently written for this sort of personal account, and though the author is exceedingly opinionated; she is never, ever hysterical or mawkish.
A compelling document of its time; very highly recommended for those interested in World War II and the German occupation of France. Yours is the Earth gives a unique perspective to what it was like to live in occupied France from a person of relative wealth, high social standing and, due to her American citizenship, considerable privilege with the German forces in the early war years, before the United States entered the conflict.
Margaret Vail was an American married to an aristocratic French landowner, Robert de Launay (“de Vigny” in the memoir; pseudonyms are used throughout, as the book was published while the war was still going on), and Margaret and Robert’s courtship and marriage is a fascinating story all on its own which is detailed in the early part of this book.
Robert was interned early in the German invasion; Margaret’s single-minded goals in the subsequent years were to secure the release and repatriation of her husband, to keep herself and her small daughter safe, and to preserve the family estates in as good a condition as possible. These last two were successful; the first never attained, which no doubt accounts for the occasionally bitter tone which permeates this memoir.
The memoir ends with several years of war yet to go; Robert is still in prison camp in Germany, and Margaret and her four-year-old daughter do leave France via a heroic alpine trek across the Pyrenees, as she has left her departure too late to be able to cross the French border in safety; American troops have been sent to participate in the invasion of North Africa and Americans still remaining in occupied France are being interned. Margaret and small Rose-Hélène spent the remaining war years in the United States, where Margaret wrote and published Yours is the Earth.
Here is an excerpt from Yours is the Earth. (Click on the image to enlarge it for reading.)
Margaret’s hatred of the German race as a whole is utterly implacable, and this comes through loud and clear, though she does give the tiniest nod of grace to a German doctor who has occasion to treat her at one point.
The reader can frequently see the writer making what feels like a conscious effort to maintain an even-handed tone, making this something of a deliberately unemotional account, with Margaret reporting on her own harrowed feelings with analytical coolness and distance. This, to me, is the book’s one slight weakness. On the few occasions where she unbends and lets herself go she became a much more sympathetic narrator, and I cared much more deeply for her personal tribulations and her worries for her family.
I was very curious as to what the eventual outcome of Robert’s internment was to be, and I did find a snippet of information concerning the family’s post-war situation on the blog of a woman who corresponded with Margaret Vail for some years. Lindsley Rinard’s blog Literature and Life has several posts, here and here, concerning Margaret Vail’s memoir and Robert’s return.
Robert was released after five years in prison camp. Margaret and Rose-Hélène returned to France in time to greet him upon his return, and the family settled down on the family estate to put their lives back in order after the terrible disruption of the war.
In the great scheme of things and in comparison of what many others went through, one feels that these people were in general rather fortunate. As I have already said, this is a unique perspective not often seen, an account of someone who was placed in a rather good way to deal with the occupation of one’s homeland by a hostile force. Margaret Vail seized every advantage she could identify in her efforts to keep herself and her loved ones secure, though she never resorted to anything like “collaboration”, as so many others were moved by circumstances to do.
From the back cover of the dust jacket of “Yours is the Earth”, a War Bonds appeal.
Leaves & Pages 
This really is a Hidden Gem – definitely one for my wishlist. She sounds like a remarkable and brave woman. I’m glad you mentioned the husband’s fate: I had such a bad feeling. You know, a bit like when there’s a beloved and faithful dog or cat or horse in a book and you know what is likely to happen. Not that I think the author would appreciate that comparison…
It is a really interesting read. And I was very apprehensive about the husband’s fate as well – the book was published before he was released. Though it did seem from Margaret Vail’s accounts of the constant contact she was able to maintain with Robert while he was in prison camp (they exchanged frequent letters and she sent monthly food and clothing parcels, as did the families of his other fellow prisoners)that Robert was one of the “fortunates” in that he was an internee in an officers’ camp and therefore not subject to the more horrific conditions of many others. Margaret as well was financially fortunate which eased her own war experience – at least in the early years until food etc became unavailable at *any* price – and it is rather fascinating to see the contrast between those placed to survive such an occupation quite well (Margaret and her social class) and those who were utterly wiped out by it (pretty well anyone with Jewish heritage). Interesting that the “peasant”/small farmer class did not too badly; they took things very much in stride, refused for the most part to involve themselves in political discussions, and basically went into survival mode, doing whatever it was they had to do to make it through, including in some cases collaborating with the occupiers and participating wholeheartedly in the immense and rather well-organized black market which flourished quite openly throughout the war years.
[…] ~ Yours is the Earth by Margaret Vail ~ Non-fiction/personal account. A sober yet impassioned personal account of an […]
Outstanding read. True American heroine. Should be a
movie. Certainly it cannot be compared to books of survivors of the concentration camps, but for drama the story is a fabulous view
of occupied France and what living under the Germans was really
like. Her escape from war torn Europe reads like a spy novel.
I BELIEVE that I am a first cousin once removed to “Margaret Vail” aka Greta Muriel Hamilton whose life I have researched and documented solidly up until the late 1930s. Family lore which my aunt related to ne was ” Greta Hamilton lived in France prior to WW2 and that she had written a book entitled Yours is the Earth published about the end of thatwar,.
This blog evidence suggests that th man she was married to was Robert de Launay, aka de Vigny a minor French aristocrat and landowner about 1938 in France.) I realize that I have a LOT more work to confirm this and Greta’s life after the solid evidence up until after 1938 when she returned from the Caribbean to the US in 1938 as Greta Sutphen (She and Dr Sutphen had divorced in 1934). Thanks for giving me her French husband’s name. John
Dear John, I am very interested in Learning more about your cousin Greta Hamilton. Jack 514 995 2669
I never met Greta. I know of her life only via her book, my recollections of family lore (which of course may be do my rather faulty memory..) and my research. According to my research she was quite a lady, well probably not a lady, but she certainly lived and loved well. I recall that I first heard of her some 4 or 5 decades ago when my aunt was trying to fill me in in our family history She had apparently met Greta at some time probably in the 1930s or 40s when Greta visited North America.