Stephanie Jane recenzis Villa Normandie de Kevin Doherty
A light wartime adventure
3 steloj
I received a copy of Villa Normandie by Kevin Doherty from Endeavour Press to read ahead of their virtual Historical Fiction Festival in April.
Villa Normandie is set in a small town in Occupied France during 1944. The tide of war is turning in favour of the Allies, but German troops are still resolutely in control of Caillons. Doherty shows the horrors of this occupation through many eyes, French and German, civilian and soldier, as well as portraying how the instinct for self-preservation pits many of Caillons' residents against each other. He crams a lot into this relatively short novel, cataloguing many atrocities that I am sure must have been committed in real life, so there is always plenty of action, but I often felt this was at the expense of genuine character creation. It was difficult to empathise with many of the large cast several of whom came across …
I received a copy of Villa Normandie by Kevin Doherty from Endeavour Press to read ahead of their virtual Historical Fiction Festival in April.
Villa Normandie is set in a small town in Occupied France during 1944. The tide of war is turning in favour of the Allies, but German troops are still resolutely in control of Caillons. Doherty shows the horrors of this occupation through many eyes, French and German, civilian and soldier, as well as portraying how the instinct for self-preservation pits many of Caillons' residents against each other. He crams a lot into this relatively short novel, cataloguing many atrocities that I am sure must have been committed in real life, so there is always plenty of action, but I often felt this was at the expense of genuine character creation. It was difficult to empathise with many of the large cast several of whom came across to me as generic stereotypes. I didn't think the ultra-convenient 'happy ending' wrap up in the final chapter was convincing either.
As a light wartime adventure, Villa Normandie frequently has tense and exciting moments, but I would have preferred to read a deeper treatment of this subject in order to truly understand why these people acted as they did under such extreme circumstances.