After reading The Pilot's Wife earlier in February, this book caught my eye from my bookshelf. Another book with "wife" in the title. I shrugged and figured, why not make it my next read? Keep the male-possessive titles going.
This historical fiction novel is actually the second in a series. I didn't read the first one, and probably should have, but I really didn't find that my enjoyment of this particular book was negatively affected by this. The events of the first book are referenced throughout, and really, that's fine. The characters stand fine on their own.
Marta Nederman is prisoner of war at a Nazi concentration camp. She is rescued by liberating American soldiers, and the one who saves her life, Paul, sticks with her in her mind in the days and weeks that follow, as she regains her strength and her health. They reconnect, and a whirlwind romance results in plans to meet in London. However, Marta's hopes and plans are dashed when Paul's plane crashes. Alone, heartbroken, and pregnant, she works with, then marries, Simon, a British diplomat. But stability is threatened when Marta's past in the resistance is brought to light. There is a Communist spy in British intelligence, and Marta can help.
I had to step away for a day after reading this, before writing my review, and I'm still not sure I've organized my thoughts properly. But I'll give it a whirl.
Let's try a different format, today, shall we?
The Pros:
I love books from this time frame. I love historical fiction, and I think this rich period is ripe for some incredible stories of perseverance and heartache and humanity, against the backdrop of some of the most inhumane moments in recent history.
I like the character of Paul.
I mostly like the character of Marta. I like that she knows her mind and sticks to it. I like that she is torn and tries to do the right thing while following her heart, too. I like that she has bad-ass moments.
It was very fast-paced. I flew through this book mostly in one sitting (save 50 pages). Shorter book or no, a slow-paced book is not going to encourage that speed. I did not want to put down the book; I wanted to know what happened next.
The cover is lovely. As a writer now, I realize how much covers influence us as readers. This cover is well-done.
And now for The Cons:
There wasn't great writing. I mean, the writing wasn't bad, but there weren't moments of me rereading beautiful passages or anything else. Writing style was a collective shrug.
There were a lot of super convenient plot points. I don't want to give specific details, but you have to have a pretty strong suspension of disbelief for some of the elements.
I figured out all the surprises really early on. As in, when I read the back blurb, which essentially is the summary I provided at the beginning of this post. Only one thing was slightly different, and I was happy about that. I'm not sure that figuring it out impeded my enjoyment, but if you're looking to be surprised, well...
I'm not sure how I feel about the romance between Paul and Marta. I like them together, but I've never had an easy time buying into the "love at first sight" thing, and this relies on that. Perhaps I'm just too cynical, but I think love takes more to cultivate than a few hours taking shelter from the rain.
Overall, I really did enjoy this book. It isn't perfect, but no book is. I honestly probably won't remember this in a few years, but for now I do, and that's saying a lot.
I'd give it, oh, 3.5-4 stars out of a count of 5. I can point out major things I don't like about it, but I still know that overall I did like it, so I'm looking at it positively overall.
Do you enjoy historical fiction? What's your favourite time period to read about?
Have you ever been kind of conflicted about why you like (or dislike!) a book?
I'd love to read your comments below! And please don't forget to subscribe to my monthly newsletter.