I didn't think I'd like this book. It's written in letter form from an author to her editor and friends.
But I would've missed a touching, heart felt story told by characters that could've been my friends. Or relatives.
Set in early '46, right after the war, author Juliet begins corresponding with the residents of Guernsey, (yes, where the cow comes from ;) about their Occupation by the Germans during the war.
Can you imagine? Your town isolated and about to be invaded by an occupying force? Your children had been evacuated for safety. But who knew if the families taking them in would be kind? Or if the town where they lived might not be bombed by the enemy?
Most of the men had gone to war. So the island was left to women and older men, or boys too young to enlist. I can't imagine.
The invading Germans took the best homes, even blew up one that was in the way of the guns. They took the food. The took the women if they could.
Those opposing the rules or harboring a pig to kill later for food, were sent to the Commandant. Many were sent to prison, or the camps. (Yeah, the ones Ahmadin-what's-his-name says never happened.)
In the story, one character went to Belsen where he was made to live in hideous, starving conditions, digging ditches for all the thousands of dead. The Russians were coming from the East and the Allies from the West. The Germans poured petrol on the bodies and torched them.
The above picture is of a nine-year-old boy who was arrested by the Germans in Warsaw. He survived Belsen by God's grace.
What I love about this book is the writing, the humor, and the story of a brave, strong people on an English Channel Island who survived five years of enemy occupation.
As we head toward America's birthday of Independence, let's remember we are the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave. Lately, we act more like the Land of the Whiny and Home of the Fearful.
If you want happiness, don't wait for the Government. The more control we surrender to them, the more Freedom we lose. Pursue your OWN happiness. So far, there's not many things to stop you. Only your own weaknesses and laziness.
As far as I'm concerned, we can never talk about the atrocities of WW2 enough. Please, more stories about the death camps and what the Germans did to weaker men, women and children.
Please more books about what a unchecked government can do. Please more books about what can happen to a nation when good men and woman do nothing!
The answer is not in what Washington can do, but what WE can do!
Happy 4th!
That picture of that little boy just breaks my heart. I can't even imagine how scary that would be for a child. Sounds like a fascinating book.
Posted by: Julie | June 29, 2009 at 10:36 PM