Friday, March 14, 2008

Resistance by Owen Sheers


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The women of a remote Welsh valley wake up one morning in 1944 and discover that their husbands have left their farms in the night. The German Army has invaded Britain and the men have been recruited for a guerilla resistance force to impede the enemy’s progress. A German patrol, led by Albrecht Wolfram, is sent to the valley by the SS to retrieve an ancient map hidden there. The soldiers are exhausted, and, when the tide of war moves on, and they are forgotten, they are content to wait for further instructions. Gradually, the women, led by Sarah Lewis and Maggie Jones, come to an accommodation with the Germans. They work together over a harsh winter to keep the farms going, and become wary friends. But the outside world must intrude and the idyll will end. This is a beautifully written first novel by a writer well-known for his poetry. The plot could have become a cliché, but Sheers avoids this, while creating a plausible picture of an alternative history of Europe.

---- Reviewed by Lyn, Headquarters

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