The Welsh Girl (original 2007; edition 2008)

This was a lovely story set in the Welsh countryside during the end stages of WWII. The story centers around two main characters, 17 year old Esther and German soldier Karsten, and gradually and beautifully shows how their lives intersect.

The story alternates between Esther's and Karsten's points of view. Each little section gives us more and more insight into the characters and their lives and their hopes and dreams. Esther is a miner/sheep farmer's daughter, so her life isn't exactly luxurious. She works hard, and bears a great deal of responsibility after the death of her mother. Karsten, who is my favorite character, is a fatherless German who, being raised by his mother in their inn, is very naive and innocent when it comes to men. He doesn't understand the way that men think or act, although he is among them and one of them. I loved the inverted perspective that we get from Karsten, and his sense of honor and virtue and truth, even when it causes him pain at the derision of his peers.

There was a running theme in this book of courage and cowardice, and what those things actually mean to us. How they make us who we are. Also, a theme of home, nationality and indentity, and that who we think we are isn't necessarily who we REALLY are.

I very much enjoyed this book, even though the war itself and the Nazi atrocities were far in the background, which isn't the usual WWII book I go for. I loved that this was a story about people, and felt personal and intimate and real. There were some unrealistic things, to me, but those come down to the behavior of people, and nothing in that is ever unrealistic, as people are unpredictable and strange, sometimes.

I enjoyed the ending as well, and the openness that it left us with, so that we can end it in the way that the reader finds appropriate, whatever will give the reader closure. :) ( )

...sigh...

I always hesitate to read WWII books or any books on war for that matter. I always think they are going to be depressing, dry or too violent, but usually I’m pleasantly surprise when I take the time to read one. The Welsh Girl was one of those that pleasantly surprised me.

The first couple of pages (prologue) were a bit dry, but I was glad that I pushed through it because I discovered a gem when I got to Esther’s perspective of the story. The book follows the perspective of three characters: Roth, Esther and Karsten, but really Esther’s and Karsten’s perspectives predominate the book. Having the different shifts in character views was really interesting and made it a unique story because of the background of each character. The characters jumped off the page for me and at times I found myself wanting to hug them. The writing was simply beautiful.

My only critique is the ending. I won’t say much, but initially I wished the ending could have been happier. However, after thinking about it for some time I felt like the ending was left a bit open so that readers could make up their own ending.
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his is a great example of an intriguing cover and title, but the book not quite living up to their potential.

The story takes place in Wales right after D-Day. It follows Esther, a Welsh girl, and Karstan, a German prisoner of war. It sounded like a book you could curl up with and loose yourself in. Unfortunately, I just wasn't able to do that. It moved rather slowly. There seemed to be gaps in my understanding of what was happening, or things I should have already known, or I just was skimming too much! Esther's father is a very nationalistic Welsh shepherd who would much rather be working in the slate quarry. But, due to a strike years before and failing economy, he is stuck with his sheep. Esther is also stuck - she has been proposed to by Rhys as he was getting ready to leave for war. She quickly turns him down. Then in the opening scene of the story, she is attacked by her English date. She tells no one and as the story plods through you discover that she is pregnant - long before she ever admits it to herself. The village is the new home of a POW camp for captured Germans. Karstan appears here after he surrenders. He is also trapped; by the fence, by his understanding of English and his deep realization that Germany will loose the war, by the hopes of his mother and the hero status of his WWI father.

As the book slogs through time the characters slog through their unwanted lives.

For a WWII book about the winning side - there is very little euphoria, very little hope. Instead it's like Esther's ride to Ireland on the train for an abortion. As they arrive in town and she sees the extent of the bombing and destruction she imagines all the places she will never see, all the experiences she will never have all the possibilities that no longer exist because the war has changed them - not only the landscape - but who they are.

So, it's hard to recommend this very strongly. There are some beautifully written passages - but the pace is as slow as the winters in the war!

Near the end of the war, a barmaid in a small village in North Wales is raped by her English boyfriend. To the same village a Jewish officer is dispatched to interview S.S. Officer Rudolph Hess about his part in the Nazi atrocities. Hess claims amnesia. In the nearby countryside an interment camp has been constructed for captured German soldiers.

Peter Ho Davies’ first novel is a deep study of the bonds of nationalism, loyalty and allies at the human level. The barmaid, Esther, longs to leave her tiny, provincial village and take up service in England. When she goes on a date with an English soldier, you get the feeling that this is a preview of her new life in England. A dream that ends in rape.

Karsten, a German POW, is abused by his fellow officers for surrendering. He escapes, using local barns and sheds as hiding places. Esther brings food to Karsten. It soon becomes obvious that his demeanor is everything the English soldier’s was not. Who is the enemy and who the ally?

The Hess scenes are eerie, chilling. His interrogator plays Nazi propaganda films in which Hess is visible, hoping the prisoner will give himself away. Evasive, Hess comments:

“A film like that does something more important than stir the few, don’t you think? It makes the rest an audience. Passive, you see? You watch a film, you sit in a cinema, you see things, you feel things, but you do nothing.”

And later, he adds:

“That’s the power of film, to draw a line between those who act and those who watch.”
Hess doesn’t crack. He is sent back to Germany where he will later be tried for his war crimes at Nuremberg.

The reader learns that for the Welsh, there’s not much difference between the English and the Germans. So much so that by the end of the book, some of the local girls are marrying the Germans who have asked to stay instead of being repatriated.

ASIDE: Davies gives two explanations of the derivation of the term “to welsh” on someone: he ascribes one to the English who forbade the children to speak their language in school. If a child who was being punished overheard another child speaking Welsh, they could end their punishment early by “welshing” on them, that is, by telling on them.

Not your typical wartime romance, The Welsh Girl portrays an ancient people and landscape whose ways of life are threatened by “friend” and foe alike.

8.5 out of 10 Rich in diverse characters, The Welsh Girl is sure to satisfy fans of literary and historical fiction. ( )