A novel full of grand passion and intensity, The Soldier’s Wife asks “What would you do for your family?” “What should you do for a stranger?” and “What would you do for love?”

As World War II draws closer and closer to Guernsey, Vivienne de la Mare knows that there will be sacrifices to be made. Not just for herself, but for her two young daughters and for her mother-in-law, for whom she cares while her husband is away fighting. What she does not expect is that she will fall in love with one of the enigmatic German soldiers who take up residence in the house next door to her home. As their relationship intensifies, so do the pressures on Vivienne. Food and resources grow scant, and the restrictions placed upon the residents of the island grow with each passing week. Though Vivienne knows the perils of her love affair with Gunther, she believes that she can keep their relationship and her family safe. But when she becomes aware of the full brutality of the Occupation, she must decide if she is willing to risk her personal happiness for the life of a stranger.

Book Review:  ★★★★★★

This book came across as a combination of Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, The Kommandant’s Girl, and The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society all rolled into one.  Set during World War II, the book is an historical fiction about a difficult time in history, exploring charged situations through the eyes of a family, among an occupied country.  This book offers a great cross section of the types of people caught up in the Nazi movement throughout the world — and it does a pretty good job of looking at some serious problems that people had to face during those violent years.

The strength of this book is in the moral implications that Leroy brings to light throughout the development of her story.  This book is set in a time of great difficulties, but it also was set in a morally defining moment of history.  In bringing these challenging issues into a confined locality, and putting the clearly defined differences in a setting that does not allow them to get away from the oppressing environment, Leroy creates a magnified setting for the moral questions that were tearing the Nazi world apart.

One of the biggest moral dilemmas that comes through in this story is the desensitization of conscience that most people had to practice in one form or another — simply to live in a world turned upside down.  Many of us are familiar with this issue, especially in the modern world — however, we are confronted with it in a little different format.  Usually this is the argument used against the excessive use of modern media.  But the Nazi world provided the first modern encounter that people had to face, in dealing with this troubling problem.  Confronted with the brutal inhumanity of men, in the imprisonment and abuse of other men is a problem this book presents in the format of those imprisoned on the island of Guernsey, during the Nazi occupation.  When confronted with her love of a Nazi officer, Vivienne finds that she has to figure out a way to live in a world that hates this officer for what he represents — while also coming to terms with the abuses his fellow Nazi’s are committing against other men.  Adding to her difficulties of not only seeing several of these atrocities of brutality committed in front of her, she also has heard the rumors making their way around this small island — making it impossible for her to ignore the horrors engulfing her world.  But her difficulty of reconciling the man she has fallen in love with, and the violence of the group as a whole is almost impossible, and succinctly identifies one of the biggest moral impasses that the Nazis created in the world.

Added to this was the difficulties that Gunther demonstrates, in trying to come to terms with these atrocities himself, and the story develops into a strong moral question on where is the battle for conscience fought?  In the community at large, or inside the mind of every individual?  Are we able to confront these demons as individual people — or are they larger problems that need to be countered through the community as a whole.  Leroy explores all of these questions in a powerful story of individuals, as well as their place in a society during a time when the make up of that society is being rewritten through force, and violent take over in a time of war.

The only problem I had with this book was some of the writing was a little less personal than I generally like.  The first part of the book is written in the first person, present point of view that almost gives the feeling of being told a story with very little emotion, or personal involvement.  However, as the story proceeds this is less noticeable as an awkward use of language, and only resurfaces at times throughout the novel.  There are also a couple of occasions where some of the phrase choices of the author had a more modern connotation, which for me tended to break the authentic feel of the setting — but they were not excessive, so it was easy to overlook.  This didn’t detract from the story at all, but it did give the feeling of more difficulty of flow in the story line at some parts, over others.

For more information about this book, and its author be sure to to visit the following websites:

Margaret Leroy Website

Oprah’s Interview with Margaret Leroy

Goodreads Book Site

When you buy a product (not just books – any product), via one of my links, The Book Worm’s Library earns income from the sale and as always, it’s much appreciated as all affiliate income is used to support the blog by contributing to giveaways, postage, travel, and attending book industry related events. We appreciate all those that help to support our blog, and have provided links below for the direct links to this book.