When Fred first showed me his collection of shards, he pointed out one that was unique. It was mysterious: from an unknown location, burned and yet not broken, and with a ghostly, burned-away figure just visible in the arched doorway. If he were to write a book about the war, Fred said, he would use the image of the shard as its cover. I felt that this piece, mounted as a manuscript or glass book, should introduce the collection.

— Armelle Le Roux, with Robert Shank