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1944: The story of the Alsace region of France during WW2
The Soldier’s Girl
What you need to know before your trail
When young English nurse Sibyl Lake is recruited as a spy to support the French resistance, she doesn’t realise the ultimate price she will end up paying. She arrives in Colmar, a French town surrounded by vineyards and swarming with German soldiers, but her fear is dampened by the joy of being reunited with her childhood sweetheart Jacques.
Sibyl’s arrival has not gone unnoticed by Commander Wolfgang von Haagan and she realises that letting him get closer is her best chance of learning enemy secrets. Yet despite her best intentions, Sibyl soon finds that betrayal does not come easy to her.
When Jacques finds that Sibyl is involved with the enemy, he is determined to prove himself to her with one last act of heroism. An act that will put all of their lives in terrible danger…
Travel Guide
Alsace
France brings both joy and pain in this novel. The family in the story come to France following a suicide and financial ruin. Life in a vineyard goes well for a while as recovery in the middle of the countryside. Time here is relaxing and restorative.
Colmar
Where much of the novel is set near the border with Germany. If you visit today, you can still see the old town with its cobblestone streets lined with half-timbered medieval buildings.The Eglise Saint-Martin church is a Gothic building from the 13th-century. As in the novel, the family settle on a vineyard and the city itself is on the Alsace Wine Route.
England
Sybil remembers the chateau in Alsace with fondness and doesn’t feel at home in England. Sybil goes into nursing as by now the second world war is well underway. The war colours all parts of English life and the shadows of war soon cover the whole country. Sybil’s language skills make her attractive to the SOE (Special Operations) and is tasked with supporting and infiltrating occupied territories with trained operatives, bringing training and weapons to Resistance fighters as well as being eyes on the ground for the government through radio communique. As the lone operative in Colmar, she is the voice of the underground. Life at this point is tough as Sybil like so many others like her, had to live a double life. Imagine then becoming friendly with a German officer, and even courted by one. Passing on that information she finds out from him is a difficult and heart-wrenching task.
Booktrailer Review
Susan:@thebooktrailer
Although advertised as a tragic love story, this isn’t really what I got from this novel. There is the dangerous relationship between Sybill and a German, but the novel for me was an insight into the German annexation of the Ardennes region of France.
The author has clearly done her research of the area and the early parts of the novel especially when the family live on the vineyard are some of the most evocative and memorable..
Once the story brought the war into play, the history and plot brought some nice surprises and fascinating facts as I haven’t read a novel set in this area during the war in a long time and certainly not as it’s being annexed. Everything was changing for the people there, even the street names.The level of research and detail is impressive and I did feel the fear and horrors of war.throughout.
I wasn’t entirely convinced by the love affair and Sybil’s behaviour as many things she did created questions and doubts in my head but then I haven’t been a spy during any war. Jacques was also a bit of a mystery to me and I’m still not sure what happened at the end as it all seemed to end a bit quickly. I would have loved to have found out more. ( I know more about wine than I would have expected though)
The author explains how she lived in the town of Freiburg for a while as a student, just across the river from Colmar and at this time has given her the setting of the novel. I think has given the novel a unique edge and as war novel works really well.
Booktrail Boarding Pass: The Soldier’s Girl
Destination : Alsace, Colmar Author/Guide: Sharon Maas Departure Time: 1940s
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