An entertaining and intriguing WWII novel set in Wales. It does a nice job of juxtaposing the Welsh-English antipathies against the Nazis versus the World aggression.
Pub life in the Welsh village is well and realistically represented as the social focal point of the villagers, as the far-off war slowly marches by, that is, until a POW camp is built and filled just over and down the hill from our Welsh girl, Esther’s family farm. She is an endearing character, longing for something more than the village life, until the war is brought home to her with the arrival of this POW camp, along with a city boy sent down to avoid the bombing in London, and living on her father’s farm with them.
There are three story threads, two of which dovetail into a touching humanistic story. Suffice to say the imprisoned German POW and the local Welsh village girl manage to connect, via the London boy and despite fences and cultural differences, in a way that is both touching and believable. The story also brings to the fore the concept of how all soldiers can be animals, whether they are on your side or not.
The third plotline simply fleshes out the setting more than being specifically relevant to the whole. This involves a young British officer, who is sent to determine whether Rudolph Hess, who is being carefully guarded in Wales also, is in fact still in his right mind. It felt somewhat extraneous to the main story, yet had some amusing moments.
Overall an enjoyable read, though not as pithy as The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, but definitely in the same genre.
MMT10/09 ( )

The Welsh Girl is a well written, detailed, descriptive character driven novel. Peter Ho Davies' writing style is very visual, the descriptions of setting and people fill the reader's imagination. The characters are so well written -- every character walks, talks and breathes as if standing next to you. With all that said, this was not my kind of read. The plot meanders along and nothing really happens until the last 100 pages or so. The two main characters don't speak to each other until half way through the book. It was difficult for me to read this book, instead of enjoying the ride I was too preoccupied with where it was going and when we were going to get there. ( )

I thought this was just wonderful - beautifully written, small and yet huge. I really liked all the characters and found the end very moving in its rather understated way. The only criticism is that it didn't quite convey the Welshness of (N) Wales enough for me but that wasn't really essential to the story. ( )

I found this a little slow to start but the latter sections of the novel improved and made for an enjoyable read. It is an interesting story about a group of characters living through war in a small Welsh community with themes explored about identity and patriotism. Esther's story was no doubt a common one during times of war for women left at home and the author has created a likeable and engaging character.
Overall a book I would recommend and an impressive debut. ( )

I grew up listening to my Welsh mother telling me stories about her farm during WWII. Her family had POW's working on their farms. The Welsh Girl follows that theme. I thought it was a good read, but a bit heavy going at times, it was not what I would call a "page turner". To me the crux of the book was the concept of "cynefin" a welsh word for a territorial boundary passed down over 100's of years through female sheep. The sheep don't need a sheperd, they naturally know where they belong. This concept really blew my mind when I thought of how it related to people, and I think that is really what this book is all about. A good, thoughtful read. ( )