Gardens of Stone ― My Boyhood in the French Resistance

An extraordinary wartime memoir, combining the best kind of adventure story with a coming of age testimony of unforgettable resonance and poignancy.

Stephen Grady was born in France in 1925, the son of an English father who was a head gardener in the Imperial War Graves Commission. In 1941 he joined the French Resistance, carrying out missions for which he was awarded the French Croix de Guerre with Silver Star, the American Medal of Freedom, and a British mention in dispatches. After the liberation of France, he joined the British Army before returning to a long career in the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, for which he eventually became director of the France area. Michael Wright is the author of two books about his experiences living in France, C'est la Folie and Je t'aime a La Folie.