1946, Norfolk, England: Grief and fear spillover in Fran’s small village when German prisoners of war are sent to the nearby camp. After the death of her beloved brother on the front lines, Fran cannot see the new arrivals as anything but his killers.When one of the mines the Germans are clearing from the beach explodes, Fran is thrown into the path of prisoner Thomas as they rush to help the wounded. Thomas’s kind, artistic nature, and his bravery, putting himself in danger to save others, change everything for Fran. She realizes he is a boy just like her brother and was forced to fight in a war he never believed in.
From that day on, there is something powerful and unspoken connecting Fran and Thomas. But as battle lines are drawn across Europe and tensions within the village reach breaking point, they could be about to unleash something neither of them can control…
1989, Berlin: Tiffany arrives in Berlin from London, just as the wall that divided a nation finally falls. With only a few words of German, she celebrates with strangers in the streets and crosses the border between West and East. In her pocket is a crumpled letter addressed to her grandmother, yellowed with age, that has led her in search of a wartime secret with the power to change her future…
A book that you will carry with you long after having turned the final page. Fans of Fiona Valpy, The Forgotten Village, and The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society will be absolutely gripped from the very beginning until the final, heart-stopping conclusion of this unforgettable wartime story.
My Rating:
Favorite Quotes:
At the time everyone had said the agony of not knowing, the uncertainty, must be the worst thing of all, but it hadn’t been. Uncertainty had meant hope, seconds, sometimes even whole minutes of time when they had convinced themselves he was still alive. The worst thing had been when the letter finally came, hearing the wild sobs of her mother behind her bedroom door, a racking, animal-like keening that sounded unlike anything Fran had ever heard before.
Her husband has become a stranger. A silent stranger. Some days she hardly speaks to anyone apart from Alice. It’s like being less and less present in her own life, as if she’s been reduced to a chalk drawing on a blackboard to which someone has taken a duster, and finger by finger, toe by toe, is slowly obliterating.
It’s like… it’s like I’m staring at the sun. I can’t see anything but him.
My Review:
My first exposure to Sarah Mitchell’s agile storytelling and she took me right into their homes, offices, and lives. I was sucked right into their vortex and beside the various characters in an alley while breaking up a fight, in their kitchens during family meals, in their car when it slid off the road into a snowbank. I felt the bitter chill of their winter as well as their poignant heartbreaks, hopes, and soaring spirits. The woman has mad skills and I look forward to another time slip by delving into her words again and again. More, please!
Now she lives in Norfolk again, this time with her husband and three almost-grown-up children, where she combines writing with some legal work – and thanking her enormous number of lucky stars.
So many books, so little time. I really wish I had grabbed this one.
Wonderful review of The English Girl. Lovely to see you enjoyed it.
I haven’t read The English Girl, though I’ve been searching for WW2 or post-WW2 books. Definitely adding this to my TBR 🙂 Fantastic review!
Oh my! I want to read this now.. sounds perfectly like something I will love
I love historical fiction, particularly with a dual timeline!