Sunward I've Climbed

During WW II, French teenager Yvette Hamel lost both legs and nearly her right arm after she was hit by a German bomb intended for an American artillery unit that was occupying her parents' Normandy farm. This first novel is based so closely on the true story of Yvette that its heroine is named Yvette Hamel. It offers a moving and inspirational account of the accident and of the young woman's remarkable recovery, which was hastened by the American pilots, doctors and medics who befriended her. Circumventing military regulations that prohibited involvement with civilians, members of the 371st Fighter Group ``adopted'' Yvette after the bombing, constructing a special tent for her and, later, escorting her to hospitals as fighting raged on. After the war, in a Paris rehabilitation center, Yvette learned to walk again, with prosthetics, and regained the use of her arm. Morgan, who has thoroughly researched Yvette's story, charts the often grim wartime fates of her heroine's 11 siblings and details how Yvette's budding romance with an American doctor was cut short by his tragic death. An epilogue explains that, in the early '80s, Yvette was reunited with ``the people she loved'' at a veterans' reunion in Louisiana. This straightforward, simply told tale of her ordeal and courage will appeal to both an adult and a young-adult readership. Photos. (July)