Reviewed by Emma Crowley
1943, Nazi-occupied France: Valérie Hallez clings to the hope that she will soon reunite with her beloved fiancé, Philippe, fighting the Nazis in Italy. Until that day comes, she risks her life helping Jewish children flee across the border with the resistance, but each tear-stained face breaks her heart a little more.
So, when she learns of little lost Clara, an orphan whose family has been torn apart by the German occupation, and is asked to rescue her, she jumps at the chance to save another innocent life. But she isn’t the only one searching for the young girl…
Because brave Clara is carrying a crucial Nazi document. And the secrets it holds could change the course of the war forever.
Frantically trying to stay one step ahead of the Gestapo, Valérie traces Clara to an isolated children’s home– but she is too late. German soldiers have already raided the building.
Her relief when she hears that Clara escaped is short lived, as there’s not a whisper of her whereabouts. And just when she’s about to start on her search, devastating news reaches her about Philippe.
Shattered by the thought that Philippe may never come home, Valérie tries to pull the pieces of her broken heart back together. She knows there’s a little girl lost out there who needs her. So, she must make the hardest choice of all. Even if she can’t save her dearest love, can she save poor Clara – and help her end this terrible war?
Many thanks to Bookouture via NetGalley for my copy of A Light to Guide Us Home and to Sharon for having my review on the blog.
A Light to Guide Us Home is the third in the Resistance Girl series by Dianne Haley. The way the books are written means they can easily be read as standalone stories but to get a real sense of what a phenomenal character Valerie is I suggest going back to the start and you will appreciate everything she has been through and what she continues to fight for. I did enjoy a Light to Guide Us Home as it gave us a deeper insight into Valerie’s past and we learn how she is still affected by the death of her mother. There are lots of twists and turns and connections to be made to the story that unfolds. But, I do think out of the three books published so far that this is not the strongest but still it did move the series as a whole forward pretty well.
The opening pages provide the reader with an update as to what stage the war is at. It’s 1943, Switzerland remains neutral. Terror continues in occupied France with the rounding up of Jews to be sent to concentration camps. In Italy, Mussolini has been replaced and the country’s allegiance has switched to the Allies. We then shift focus to what will form the essential plot of the book as in Paris a man named David is being interrogated as to a certain document which contains evidence of high level military and industrial spies in the British establishment who are sympathetic to the Nazi cause. David is a scientist and knows he can’t give away any information for said document has been split in two and now lies with his sister Hannelore and young daughter Clara. They have been tasked with getting the document into the right hands for if the information contained within falls into enemy hands it will be a huge and devastating setback in the war effort. David himself knows he must remain silent but the fate that potentially awaits him if he does so is unspeakable.
David’s family have to flee Paris but Hannelore decides to stay when a friend of hers is desperately ill and said friends husband has been arrested. She continues her work in the hospital laundry whilst tending to her friend. On one hand, you admire Hannelore’s loyalty to her friend but on the other you think she was being utterly reckless. Having the documents puts her in constant peril and there were people putting their own lives on the line to ensure she got to safety in Switzerland in order to pass on the documents. So why didn’t she do what was initially required of her? It made me think that she wasn’t contemplating the bigger picture.
Hannelore’s story over the course of the book feeds into Valerie’s and I loved how the two became connected. I had always sensed with Valerie, who has been the main female protagonist throughout, that there was much more to her history than meets the eye. Little subtle clues and tantalising titbits have been dropped in every now and again in the previous books. Yes, they were very subtle but were enough to heighten my senses that the work Valerie was doing was more valid than ever.
Valerie lives in Geneva and helps her father in his watchmaking business. She delivers parcels all over the city which is the perfect cover for other deliveries she may have to make as part of her work with the Resistance. Since book one, she has had such fire in her belly and a dogged determination to do her bit for the greater cause. She has put herself in innumerable perilous situations with the constant fear of being caught swirling around her. Yet, she always remains strong and steadfast and keeps going. She risks her life, time and time again for strangers and when she is tasked with ensuring Clara is safely met once she crosses the Swiss boarder she doesn’t hesitate. That’s what I love about Valerie she puts everyone else first because she knows there are people in much greater need than she herself is. She could have easily just continued her normal day to day life but herself and her friends always go the extra mile in a world fraught with danger and terror at every corner.
Valerie’s love for her fiancée Philippe, who is recovering from an incident which occurred in the previous book, knows no bounds and in this book, they certainly went through plenty of emotional turmoil. My heart broke at a certain point at what was unfolding. I couldn’t believe it was happening but I did have my suspicions which were proven correct. As threads from the past begin to draw together the further the book developed the more the tension, unease, suspicion and danger was ramped up. But still, I did feel around the midway point there was a bit of a lull but then thankfully things did pick up again. There was a sense of Valerie working in the present to find Clara and get her to safety because she was involved in a much bigger picture. Yet also, Valerie, was on her own personal journey of discovery which took her back into the past with an even greater atmosphere of mystery and suspense unfolding. I was on the edge of my seat at certain points because it really did feel like things were going to go very much awry.
What sets this series apart from all the rest of the books/series currently focusing on World War Two is that it is primarily set in Switzerland. A country that remained neutral throughout the war. As this setting is not often used in books in this genre, the work of the people living there tends to get overlooked. Well, for me it has, until this point, but Dianne Haley has shone a light on a country and its people where I have oiften thought that nothing much happened during the war as their neutrality meant they stayed out of things. That couldn’t be further from the truth and the work of Valerie, her friends and fellow Resistance members prove this. They were brave, fierce, determined and courageous and I have really enjoyed reading their stories. I definitely feel that there is room for at least one more book in order to tie up Valerie’s story. There is still a lot of fight in her and herself and Philippe need to get that happy ending they so desperately deserve after everything they have been through. A Light to Guide Us Home is a very good read as I have said in my opinion not the best so far in the series but one I certainly wouldn’t have missed out on.
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