"The Welsh Girl" by Peter Ho Davies - book for October 2008

Clare Bookclub Mod · Post by **Clare Bookclub Mod** » Mon Sep 29, 2008 10:21 am

“The Welsh Girl” is set in 1944, as the Second World War is coming to an end. The main characters are Rotheram, Esther and Karsten. Rotheram is a German Jewish refugee who now works as a translator for Political Intelligence. Esther is the seventeen-year-old daughter of a fiercely nationalistic Welsh shepherd living in a remote village in Wales where a prisoner-of-war camp is being constructed. Karsten, a sensitive German soldier who surrendered himself and his men, becomes one of the first prisoners in the new camp.

Themes of love, war, cowardice, duty, displacement and identity are all explored as the lives of the characters merge. What make this first novel from Peter Ho Davies particularly readable are the beautifully developed characters.