"I grew up in the certitude that one day I should help give back the
earth to those who ennoble it with their courage and warm it with their
love."
Promise at Dawn begins as the story of a mother's sacrifice: alone and
poor, she fiercely battles to give her son the very best. Romain Gary
chronicles his childhood in Russia, Poland, and on the French Riviera
and recounts his adventurous life as a young man fighting for France in
World War II. But above all he tells the story of the love for his
mother that was his life--their secret and private planet, their
wonderland "born out of a mother's murmur into a child's ear, a promise
whispered at dawn of future triumphs and greatness, of justice and
love."