I forget how I stumbled across The Wartime Book Club. I think it was an email saying something like, "Since you read and liked this, please come try The Wartime Book Club." The plot sounded right up my alley, since I love WW2 stories, so of course I had to try it out.
My Thoughts:
The novel takes place in Jersey, part of the Channel Islands between England and France, during WW2. The Nazis are the occupying force and the residents are living under German rule. Grace, the town's librarian, has been ordered to destroy any books at odds with Nazi ideology, but chooses instead to hide them in the library in an act of defiance. Bea, her best friend and postal worker, commits her own acts of resistance within her role. But both women continue to draw the attention of the Germans on the island, making their roles ever more dangerous.
I think the most compelling part of the novel is that it is based on true experiences of those who lived in Jersey during WW2. The island was occupied for around 5 years by the Germans and they did not treat the residents much differently than they did those in Eastern Europe. Censorship abounded, acts of resistance were punished, and neighbors turned on each other to curry favor with the occupiers. Somehow, throughout this, groups held on, much like Grace's book club did, in order to support each other and come out stronger at the end. It is hard to imagine what it took to survive those times, and for women like Grace and Bea's to be under an almost constant surveillance is harrowing to even think about.
About The Wartime Book Club:
The Isle of Jersey was once a warm and neighborly community, but in 1943, German soldiers patrol the cobbled streets, imposing a harsh rule.
Nazis have ordered Grace La Mottée, the island's only librarian, to destroy books that threaten the new regime. Instead, she hides the stories away in secret. Along with her headstrong best friend, she wants to fight back. So she forms the Wartime Book Club: a lifeline, offering fearful islanders the joy and escapism of reading.
But as the occupation drags on, the women's quiet acts of bravery become more perilous – and more important – than ever before. And when tensions turn to violence, they are forced to face the true, terrible cost of resistance . . .
Based on astonishing real events, The Wartime Book Club is a love letter to the power of books in the darkest of times – as well as a moving page-turner that brings to life the remarkable, untold story of an island at war.
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