The Umbrella Mouse really is a heartwarming masterpiece. It takes you on a roller coaster of emotions and it really keeps you on the edge of your chair the entire time you’re reading through it.
Anna Fargher, the author of The Umbrella Mouse, grew up on the Suffolk coast in England. She was raised by a ballet dancer and an artist. Before Anna joined the world of British art and opened her own gallery, she read English Literature at Goldsmiths. Anna, with her love of historical fiction, was inspired to write a book like The Umbrella Mouse when she read some surprising statistics about how little young people and adults knew about WWI and WWII. That was when The Umbrella Mouse was born.
Being the author of The Umbrella Mouse, was inspired by her grandfather, who was a pilot in the RAF during WWII. He was rescued by the villagers who were fighting with the French Resistance after his Spitfire was shot down while it was over Brittany in 1944. What inspired Anna to write The Umbrella Mouse – an animal French Resistance story, was her grandfather’s most daring escape from Nazi occupied France
The book was in fact based on a real life French Resistance group named ‘Noah’s Ark’. Marie-Madeleine Fourcade, the leader of Noah’s Ark, was portrayed as a hedgehog in the book, for her codename was ‘Hedgehog’. Léon Faye, whose codename was ‘Eagle’, was second in command of Noah’s Ark, and he played the role of a heroic eagle. Rip, the first dog to be able to locate trapped people, along with his handler, Mr King, they both appeared in the book with Rip named Dickin. Then we have G.I Joe, an American messenger pigeon who played a major role in the book – he saved the lives of many Allied soldiers and civilians in real life. Last but not least, Hans Scholl, who was the founding member of the non-violent resistance group ‘The White Rose’ in Germany, played the role of a rat.
You could even find the real life James Smith & Sons Umbrella Shop in central London. Then The Umbrella Mouse Museum in Italy. This then leads me to the main character, who is a young mouse named Pip Hanway. She used to live in the James Smith & Sons Umbrella Shop with her mother and father all her life. Unfortunately though, one day the umbrella shop was bombed, leaving her as an orphan. Pip was not going to give up so easily, and she decided to save her family’s history, embarking on a journey to bring the Hanway family umbrella to The Umbrella Museum in Italy, where her other relatives live.
On the way, Pip took some unexpected turns and met Noah’s Ark in France.There she met others like her, and she learned the true meaning of friendship. Pip decided to stay back and help Noah’s Ark. They went through the difficult times together, and formed a big, firm family together. The Umbrella Mouse was written beautifully, and gives you a history lesson that you won’t forget.
I absolutely love this book because it really makes you think differently – see things differently. A quote that Madam Fourcade said was “You don’t have to be big, to be brave.” That’s something that I’ll never forget.
By Jerry Tran