Reviews

Charlotte Gray by Sebastian Faulks

Only show reviews with written explanations

chri5ti's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional informative sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

elliemcc11's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.0

I liked this book but didn't think it was as good as some of [a:Sebastian Faulks|4229|Sebastian Faulks|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1349875568p2/4229.jpg] other novels. On the plus side it educated me a bit more about France under occupation in WW2 - I noticed done reviewers didn't like that aspect of the novel but I thought it was handled well.

Charlotte, a young Scottish girl, meets Peter, an RAF pilot and romance ensues (I see Faulks was award a bad sex award and yes one scene was a bit cringy). Peter is of flying secret missions in France and crashes and goes missing. Charlotte, recently recruited to G section, a secret group assisting the French resistance, goes on mission to France, to work and to find Peter.

Charlotte, a French speaker, spends longer in France than she imagines, on her quest to find Peter. She continues to help the resistance and becomes friends with Julien and Levade. Levade, an old man had a secret Jewish past. His son Julien is protecting some young Jewish children. Charlotte gets involved with trying to hide the children, but dark times mean it is not always easy.

This story, in part, reminds me of [a:Kristin Hannah|54493|Kristin Hannah|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1417050721p2/54493.jpg] book [b:The Nightingale|21853621|The Nightingale|Kristin Hannah|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1451446316s/21853621.jpg|41125521] . It was written before The Nightingale but the French backdrop and the Jewish question are similar. Overall it is an emotional story, again well written, but not my favourite. I would recommend it to anyone interested in wartime France.

bookishwendy's review against another edition

Go to review page

3.0

I couldn't resist picking up this novel after reading the back cover. A young Scottish woman (Charlotte) follows her downed pilot lover (Peter Gregory) to France as a Secrete SOE-type agent to help the French Resistance, and perhaps even rescue Peter. The plot sounds very intriguing...unfortunately, the author didn't pull it off nearly as well as he could have. Peter Gregory disappears somewhere over France at the very beginning, and has very little to do with the remainder of the book. He's just sort of gone. Charlotte, in France all because of Peter, doesn't seem to have the passionate motivation to find him that I would have expected. Instead, she finds Julian, a member of the Resistance who develops an attraction to her. And yet she keeps herself unattached (for the most part). Meanwhile a subplot about two young Jewish boys in hiding develops, abut the main characters have relatively little to do with them...and a depressing subplot it is. Faulks knows how to develop drama in a sweeping-type story, but the story itself felt fragmented, like a bunch of different pieces that didn't completely come together. On the other hand, the material was well-researched (through interviews of real people) and though fictional it was historically accurate. kudos

miss_bct's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional reflective tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

tasmanian_bibliophile's review against another edition

Go to review page

3.5

‘It was six o’clock at Waverley Station.’

1942. Charlotte Gray is in her mid-twenties when she leaves Scotland for England, hoping to do something meaningful for the war effort. Charlotte takes on a job as a medical receptionist but caught up in the frenetic social life prevalent for some at the time, falls in love with RAF pilot Peter Gregory.

Shortly after, Peter Gregory fails to return after a flight into France. Charlotte, who spent much of her childhood in France, has just the language skills that the British secret service needs access to, in order to support the French resistance. And so, Charlotte is trained as a messenger. Her hair is dyed, her fillings are replaced as is her clothing. She is to accompany a less fluent French speaker to France and then to deliver items required by the resistance. Charlotte does this but then, instead of returning to England as planned, heads off to look for Peter Gregory. Charlotte travels further into France.

Mr Faulks describes life in France under the Nazi Occupation: the hunger, the danger, the varying allegiances of the villagers in Lavaurette. I confess: my attention was less focussed on Charlotte’s search for Peter than on the fate of the two young Jewish boys saved (temporarily) by Julien Levade. Despite this, I became caught up in Charlotte’s quest and while aspects of the story (including Charlotte’s relationship with her father) irritated me I found the story absorbing.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith