The Soldier's Wife by Margaret Leroy

This book comes out later this month and I was able to get an advance copy. When I read the synopsis and found out this story takes place in Guernsey during WWII, I was a little irritated because it seemed a repeat of the book Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. I ended up liking it better than Guernsey partially because Guernsey is told in a series of letters the main characters write to each other which doesn't seem to delve deeply enough into the story.

The main character is Vivienne, a soldier's wife left to take care of her two children and ailing mother in law. After she fails to leave Guernsey, she is forced to deal with the Nazi Occupation of their island. Soon she finds herself in a love affair with the German Officer living next door. Hiding her affair from her family and community, she is forced to make a choice when her daughter befriends a prisoner in one of the Nazi work camps.

Vivienne is not a strong person. She doesn't marry her husband for love, which results in a marriage only in name and not emotion. She is plagued with indecision when faced with the choice to take her children to London before the Occupation, or to stay. After the German's occupy Guernsey, she finds herself fumbling with how she should behave. She tries to harden herself against the Germans they are at war with but finds herself lusting over the Officer next door. In spite of the attitudes of her family and community, she continues her secret love affair because of the need and lack of physical intimacy she has had in her life. Only after helping a prisoner in the Nazi work camp, is she able to question how well she knows the man she is falling in love with. The reality of the War is that not everyone was able to take a hard, strong stance. Vivienne behaves very selfishly in her affair but then makes up for it by risking her life to help someone else. She ends up being a very reluctant heroine.

I felt the story was slow progressing and then the ending was rushed compared to the speed of the rest book. I really enjoyed the the author's imagery and descriptive writing.