Wolfsangel - Liza Perrat

'I glance across at my granddaughter, who wears the bone angel necklace these days. She's gripping the pendant between her thumb and forefinger as I used to; as countless kinswomen of L'Auberge des Anges did before us. I touch the spot where it once lay against my own breast, feeling its warmth as if I were still wearing the little sculpture.

I wonder again if my daughter and granddaughter truly understand what that heirloom endured with me through those years of the occupation...'

I really enjoyed reading Liza Perrat's first novel, Spirit of Lost Angels, which forms the beginning of her trilogy, 'L'Auberge des Anges', and I was quickly drawn into this second novel too, soon becoming caught up in the story and reluctant to stop reading. In the opening part of the narrative set in 2012, Celeste Roussel is looking back at the decisions she made in her past which still cause her pain. Then we are taken back to 1943, to the little village of Lucie-sur-Vionne in a France then occupied by German forces. Celeste is one of the local villagers, a brave, clever and determined young woman, yet also at times naive, who wants to assist the Resistance like her brothers, but when she finds herself falling for Martin Diehl, a German officer, she feels conflicted. The bone angel necklace that has been passed down through the women in her family to Celeste is a talisman and gives her strength just has it has done to generations past. 

The novel depicts the bravery of resistance that many ordinary people displayed in those terrible times. The author has evidently researched this period well and has created a vivid, believable backdrop against which her engaging, honest tale is told. I read in an interview with the author that the region of France in which this novel is set was indeed occupied by German forces during WWII. I could imagine in my mind the little village and its inhabitants, I could feel something of the immense bravery required of those in the French Resistance, and I could sense the danger and around them; the storytelling takes you there, into the hearts and minds of the characters. I felt admiration, shock and sadness as I read this story; the awful truth of some events during wartime is not avoided here. This is an absorbing, well-researched and well-written novel ideal for anyone who enjoys reading historical fiction and like Liza Perrat's previous novel Spirit of Lost Angels there are courageous female characters at the heart of the storyline. 

Wolfsangel boasts an evocative, attractive cover design too. Incidentally, I'd certainly recommend reading Spirit of Lost Angels because it's a very good read, and because you'll appreciate the connections of the family and the necklace, but you by no means have to read it in order to read and follow the story in Wolfsangel. Exciting to now anticipate the arrival of the third book in the trilogy! 

Thank you to the author for kindly sending me a copy of this novel for an honest review. 

Author links - twitter @LizaPerrat | website

Published by Triskele Books

Other blog reviews -
Pen and Paper | Jaffa Reads Too | Lovely Treez Reads | Random Things |

Tuesday Intro: Wolfsangel by Liza Perrat

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros hosted by Bibliophile by the Sea - every Tuesday, sharing the first paragraph (or a few) of a book you are currently reading or thinking about reading soon. Visit the blog here to join in.

I'm reading Wolfsangel by Liza Perrat.

I really enjoyed Spirit of Lost Angels, by the same author, and I've found myself drawn into this story very quickly too and keen to see what happens next. 

First paragraph

'We gather in the cemetery, before the ossuary, with the straggle of other remaining survivors and their families. Our heads dipped, the mayor beings his memorial speech to commemorate the tragedy that became a legend around these parts; the evil that part of me still believes was the result of my own reckless actions.'

Synopsis

Seven decades after German troops march into her village, Céleste Roussel is still unable to assuage her guilt.

1943. German soldiers occupy provincial Lucie-sur-Vionne, and as the villagers pursue treacherous schemes to deceive and swindle the enemy, Céleste embarks on her own perilous mission as her passion for a Reich officer flourishes.

When her loved ones are deported to concentration camps, Céleste is drawn into the vortex of this monumental conflict, and the adventure and danger of French Resistance collaboration.

As she confronts the harrowing truths of the Second World War’s darkest years, Céleste is forced to choose: pursue her love for the German officer, or answer General de Gaulle’s call to fight for France.

Her fate suspended on the fraying thread of her will, Celeste gains strength from the angel talisman bequeathed to her through her lineage of healer kinswomen. But the decision she makes will shadow the remainder of her days.

A woman’s unforgettable journey to help liberate Occupied France, Wolfsangel is a stirring portrayal of the courage and resilience of the human mind, body and spirit.

Dominion - C. J. Sansom

‘They can’t do this. Not here, not in England.’

Imagine a Britain with a recent past that is quite unlike the one we know…

It is 1952, and Britain has taken a different direction; an alternative history prevails here. One that sees Britain allied with Germany, Churchill not Prime Minister but instead a wanted man who is relegated to leading the British Resistance movement, Britain having surrendered to Nazi Germany in the war that began in 1939 after only one year. The government consists of right-wing fascists, appeasers and businessmen. There are ‘Nazi fingers in every dark corner of the state.’ There is no freedom of the press or unions, and protestors to the regime are dealt with harshly by the cruel Auxiliary police. There are rumours that British Jews may be moved to detention camps soon.

David Fitzgerald is a civil servant in the Dominions Office. He is also a spy for the Resistance. Sarah, David’s wife, is a pacifist like her father. She mourns, as David does, for the son they lost in a tragic accident. She seems opposed to the violence that the Resistance is increasingly turning to in order to make themselves heard. David argues: ‘What are people supposed to do? We’ve let it all go. Democracy, independence, freedom.’ Alongside their greater personal struggles, there is the question of whether their marriage can survive all that they have been through.

Frank Muncaster is a research scientist who has recently been shut away in a mental hospital. He has attracted the interest of both the Resistance and the Germans. What caused this quiet man to push his older brother Edgar through the window of his flat, what did Edgar say to him? Edgar had come back home to England from his job as a prominent scientist in America after their mother died, to deal with her affairs. What is the secret which Frank now knows, and why is it of such great importance to all sides? In fleshing out Frank’s background, the novel touches on public schools, spiritualism, and loneliness.

Gunther Hoth is the determined, driven Gestapo Sturmbannfuehrer brought over to England with a mission to track down Frank and discover just what he knows.

An array of strong characters represents the viewpoints of all sides. From those fighting for the resistance, to pacifists, to supporters of the government, to those who choose to look the other way and do nothing, to Germans, all are brought into the story, and so many carry weighty secrets. Barriers are broken down as Resistance fighters from all backgrounds come together to provide a network of safety and assistance to each other.

The world is unrecognizable. Will British values survive? Will Britain follow the lead of Germany in the abhorrent treatment of Jews? There is such fear on the streets. People are encouraged to spy on their neighbours, to report any suspicious activity. Those in power control all the news reported on the radio, television and in the press.

For David, there is the stark realization that he longs to believe none of this is real, but it is:

‘He understood suddenly how much of him, all this time, had remained anchored to the world he had been brought up in and longed, deep inside, to believe still existed: Britain, his country, dull and self-absorbed, ironic even about it’s own prejudices. But that Britain was gone, had instead turned into a place where an authoritarian government in league with Fascist thugs thrived on nationalist dreams of Empire, on scapegoats and enemies. And he was now, irrevocably, an enemy.’

London is heavy with smog, the gloom adding intensity to the frightening atmosphere, not knowing who is hiding where, who will appear out of the night?

There is tension throughout and this builds dramatically towards the thrilling finale as the assembled group of diverse characters we have come to know and cheer for must fight for their lives.

C. J. Sansom is masterful at creating and sustaining suspense; at making you turn the page, leaving you wanting more. He did this in Winter in Madrid and has done it again here. I found this a compulsive, frightening thriller; it is exciting, gripping stuff that had me turning the pages very quickly, fearful of what was to come and yet desperate to find out. The author re-writes history and depicts these momentous events so convincingly through the lives of these ordinary people, these ‘brave people with secrets’. Powerful themes run through this novel; most dominant are the divides of class, nationality, race and religion.

A thrilling and astounding re-imagining of our recent past.

Reviewed by Lindsay Healy

Published by Mantle, an imprint of Pan Macmillan

Here's a link to an article by the author about this book.

Thank you to the publisher for sending me a copy of this novel to read and review.

All That I Am - Anna Funder

This is the first novel from Anna Funder, who wrote the excellent non-fiction book ‘Stasiland’, about numerous people’s experiences at the hands of the secret police in the GDR, the former East Germany. This novel also takes Germany as it’s primary setting, here though the time is the 1920s and 1930s, the days of hyperinflation, the Weimar Republic, the reaction in Germany to having lost WWI and the demands of the Treaty of Versailles on Germany, followed by the rise to power of the National Socialists led by Hitler. This period interests me very much as I studied modern German history at school and University. I have read a large number of excellent novels recently taking one or both World Wars as a backdrop, yet in dealing with refugees from Germany fighting against the new regime, this one covers very well something I knew very little about and brings a whole different aspect to light; one that I feel should be more widely known, and I hope it will become so through this inspiring novel’s many future readers.

Ruth Becker, her cousin Dora Fabian, left-wing playwright Ernst Toller, Hans Wesemann who Ruth marries, Mathilde Wurm and other characters play leading roles in a determined struggle to keep Germany from falling into Hitler’s control. When Hitler does gain power though, they flee and yet they strive to continue their resistance efforts, however much this endangers them, from their new locations, London being the main one. Whilst trying to maintain their determined struggle, they have to cope with trying to settle as refugees into another country with a different language, to learn who they can and cannot trust both within the establishment and those close around them, all the while fearing that betrayal and enemies may be concealed everywhere. Amongst the group themselves there is immense friendship, love and heartache, and great struggles whilst trying to remain undiscovered.

Ernst Toller fought for Germany in World War I, yet now he is banished and his works burned there. Now he is looking back and amending the manuscript for his autobiography, ‘I Was A German’, to include details of Dora’s life and his feelings for her. Dora is a determined, compelling and hugely courageous woman. Toller’s manuscript is sent to Ruth Becker, (whose real name is Ruth Blatt, and whom the author knew), who is now elderly and living in Australia, and this provokes her to recall all the memories from those years gone by. Ruth’s story is told in the first person, alternating with chapters where Toller tells his story in 1939, where he spends his time in a New York City hotel room dictating his thoughts to his secretary Clara. She herself has many anxieties regarding the impending war and its potentially devastating effects on her family.

I admire the characters so much for their attempts to expose the build up to war and fight the injustices being perpetrated by the Nazis. The writing is wonderful, the story so moving, and it is that much more engrossing and also filled with sadness because it is true, the author having taken the experiences of real people to create this novel. They existed, they fought these struggles, and they endured this terrible treatment, and still they persisted in trying to change things for the better for others in the future. It really makes you stop and think as a reader. The writer’s use of language is pitch perfect. The novel really made me think about how much some people fight in their lives, how much they can achieve, and what amazing events can lie hidden in each individual’s past. This is an intelligent, literary novel and I could see it being in serious contention for literary prizes in the coming year. Highly recommended.


This is a link to a video interview with the author:  Interview with Anna Funder

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