What we
thought : What a beautiful ending! *wipes away
a tear*
This was a super read, with evocative language and well-drawn
characters that carried this intelligent story of love and loss during WWII.
Have to admit I knew little about Irish history of this period, so found the
whole transportation of Jewish people from Germany really informative. I found
myself drawn to Oscar and Elsa more so than Kitty and Charles, although I'm not
entirely sure why. I felt Kitty was a little blurred as a character, and I
never felt a connection with Charles, whereas both German characters really
lived and breathed the story.
The tone and language reminded me of another of
my favourite WWII novels, 22 Britannia Road by Amanda Hodgkinson. There is
something compelling yet almost innocent about the writing that seems to suit
the chaos of the setting. My only real complaint was that maybe the stories
ended too soon, I felt the characters had more to say and although the summary
covered all important points, I was still left with a sense of their stories
being incomplete somehow. Or maybe I was just sad to say goodbye!
You’ll enjoy
this if you like : Amanda Hodgkinson, Sarah Waters, Barbara Erskine.
Avoid if you
don’t like : Love stories, war stories
and weeping like a girl.
Ideal
accompaniments : A cup of Ovaltine and choc-chip cookies.
Genre : Literary Fiction
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