A review by sarahmatthews
Resistance by Owen Sheers

tense slow-paced

Resistance by Owen Sheers

Read on audio

Narrator: Richard Coyle

BBC Audiobooks

Pub.  2007

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I read this book for my first ever book club and it was a great choice for a discussion; I’m not sure I’d have picked it up otherwise.

Going in I knew it was an alternative history where we’re following characters in a remote Welsh valley during WW2, where the D Day landings have failed and Germany now occupy the UK. The only other novel of this genre I’ve read is Rule Britannia by Daphne du Maurier which was fascinating as it was written in 1972 and kind of foresees Brexit. I remember enjoying it but also finding it a little bonkers! 

This book is written in a very different style and, even though plenty happens, it is quite slow paced in the beginning with a lot of description of landscape. I liked the lyrical scene setting but, wow, were there a lot of similes! The author is an award winning poet so I guess he was particularly concerned with creating a sense of place. There were parts where the landscape was beautifully evoked and other sections where I just wanted the story to get going.

A group of German soldiers have been deployed to a small farming community on a secret mission. When they arrive a harsh winter sets in and they find themselves lending a hand to the women who’ve been suddenly abandoned by their husbands, presumably to take part in the efforts of the British resistance. The Nazi troops are  worn down from fighting across Europe and are relieved to be away from the front line. It soon becomes clear that if they’re all going to get through the winter they need each other and the boundary between the opposing sides is blurred. 

The women don’t want to become collaborators but the pressures of a bleak winter of farming in this isolated environment mean they’re given no other option than to accept help. This difficult tension is well explored, especially in the characters of Sarah and Albrecht. I didn’t think I’d enjoy the writing about farming but found I really got into it and the chapters describing this horrendous, treacherous winter were excellent. 

One of my favourite characters (who I’d have liked more of in the book) is George, a teenager who’s picked out during an assessment at the start of the war to be part of the UK underground intelligence. He works at night, observing the movements of troops from his vantage point, writing on rice paper so he could eat it if caught. I enjoyed the details we find out from his point of view:

“The newspapers stopped coming, and there was less news, more light music on the radio. Through it all they kept broadcasting light music. George suspected the songs chosen, and the order in which they were played were a code, but he couldn’t be sure.”

The turning point for me comes when Maggie takes a prized colt to a show in a  village outside the valley and one of the Germam officers accompanies her, dressed as a civilian. After this scene I found the story really picked up to a gripping conclusion.

This novel provided some great talking points for our group, most of whom enjoyed it, and we were very interested in the afterward which explained how much of the detail about the resistance was based on real plans drawn up during the war. Overall a fantastic concept and a great read.