Reviewed by Suzanne Goldring
Someone is trying to hide what really happened to her. I must do anything to discover the truth. Even risk my own life….
Paris 1945. I sent nineteen-year-old Phyllis, my youngest recruit, into a city crawling with enemy soldiers. But she was smart as a tack, and her gold-flecked hazel eyes could capture anyone’s hearts. I was certain she would succeed. But then she disappeared without a trace. And no one will help me discover what happened to her.
I am desperate to find her – the girl I told to lie to her family about where she was going. She was excited to be doing her bit, but she was young and naïve. It was my job to make her understand the peril she would face. Is it my fault she is missing?
Now I creep into a beautiful house on a tree-lined street, the headquarters of cold-hearted German soldiers. It was the last place she was seen. I trail my fingers along the gilded furniture and see the light dance off the glittering chandeliers. On the top floor, I find the dates inscribed by beaten prisoners, and my heart sinks as I realise she was shown no mercy here.
As I search for the answers her family are begging for, I learn that the girl I swore to protect was moved around in secret. And when I find a message scratched on a food tin in a damp cell, I know I am getting closer to Phyllis at last…
But there are some who want the secrets of the war to be left in the past. Someone is sending me threatening letters, trying to scare me to stop... In finding answers about the girl who haunts my dreams, am I not only risking her life but my own too?
Many thanks to Bookouture via NetGalley for my copy of The Girl Who Never Came Back to review and to Sharon for having my review on the blog.
Suzanne Goldring’s new book, The Girl Who Never Came Back, is a different story based on World War Two. The events that occur focus more so on the years that follow the wars conclusion as one woman seeks to find answers. She will not rest until she has solid information as to what happened to her girls and one in particular Phyliss. Initially, I did find the storyline a bit confusing as it moves forward and back between the past and the present. Usually, this wouldn’t be a problem for me at all as I love books that use this form of storytelling but for some reason here it took me quite some time to settle into the book. I would say the same about the plot as a whole. It took its time finding its rhythm and I would say I was more than half way through the book before things began to settle down and things became more solid and I could see what direction it was going in. The second half more than makes up for a disjointed first part and this is a book worth sticking with.
In the present day Peg has just buried her lifelong friend Sylvia and is sorting through her cottage and affairs. A strange man had appeared at Sylvia’s funeral and Peg wonders who it was. This does not become clear until the very end of the book and I must admit it did bring a smile to my face how things had come full circle and to see how this man fitted into Sylvia’s story. As Peg wonders what to do with the cottage in the countryside where she resided with Sylvia in her final tears helping her and being there for her as friends are want to do. She starts clearing things out and as she does so recalls her friendship with a woman whom she soon comes to realise that she didn’t know as much as she thought she did about her. Especially what Sylvia did during the war years seen as she told Peg she just did filing in an office.
Peg’s aspect of the storyline is told in a conversational, relaxed and gentle style and gives an insight into the life that Sylvia now lives. One in which she become confused at times and does strange things that unnerve Peg but she is always loyal to her friend right until the bitter end. As much as I enjoyed reading chapters from Peg’s viewpoint I do think there could have been less of them so we could focus more on Sylvia and her past. I felt the modern day chapters didn’t push the story along as much as it needed to be.
What really held my attention throughout was Sylvia’s story of what she did in the war and how guilt consumed her for many countless years afterwords. Sylvia joined a secret organisation, the S.O.E - Special Operations Executive, as she wanted to be a part of undermining the Germans and not let them invade Britain as they had done with France. She was the person who recruited and interviewed young women who were then sent training and subsequently into France to work with the Resistance.
I had read of these women very briefly in books before. Well, when I say briefly the recruiter is mentioned in a line or two and that is it and the focus turns to the brave women who went into the unknown never knowing if they would make it back. The fear of being caught and exposed by the Germans was ever present. As the war progressed and men were away fighting women stepped into roles that would never have been possible pre war and going undercover in France was certainly one of these roles never once before played by a woman.
Slyvia is the mother hen to all the young women she recruits. Yes, she may remain in Britain but her heart and mind is with those that she has sent across the channel to do dangerous yet vital war work. I thought it was fascinating to read of the her viewpoint as she herself was never in the thick of the action. Rather she was like so many mothers at home waiting for news of those who have gone to fight in a war that should never have begun. For some reason, she forms a strong connection with Phyliss. Of course, she cares deeply for all the women that have been recruited and trained but Phyliss will be the one who has a place in her heart and whom refuses to leave it. When news reaches headquarters that Phyliss and several others have not been able to transmit back to Britain the worst is feared. Do the Germans have her and if so is she being tortured to reveal what she knows? A secret agent has always been told to never reveal anything and a radical means of getting out of a situation has been given to them.
Throughout the book, all I wanted to know was what happened to Phyliss? It is a question that hangs over every page once it is revealed that she has been captured. The book is heavy with Sylvia’s quest to discover the truth. Angst and guilt gnaw away at her and she will never be satisfied until she knows the definitive truth. So many lies were told and especially to Phyliss’s family that she feels they too need to learn what happened to their daughter especially seen as a different story was presented to them as to Phyliss’ war work. Phyliss was the best of all Sylvia’s girls and the youngest. She was confident, fearless, cautious, utterly brave, skilled and intuitive but did she pay the ultimate price for possessing these characteristics?
As the blurb says, Phyliss haunts Sylvia’s dreams and as the war ends and people are displaced, people return to their loved ones and camps are discovered she must set out to discover what happened to her girls and particularly Phyliss. She is dogged and devoted in her mission and the chapters that follow are harrowing as details emerge. I think no matter how many books set during World War Two that I read I am still appalled and horrified at what went on during that time.As Phyliss, uncovers information the guilt increases within her. She can only think of what she could, should and failed to do. She needs a firm end to Phyliss’ story as does her family but will what they uncover help them in their quest for the truth or set them further back? Dark and upsetting details emerge and that’s where I felt having the story interspersed with Peggy’s storytelling really did help to elevate the heavy burden and overwhelming feeling of guilt and horror. As do the little snippets from the S.O.E manual included which I found to be very informative. There is a little extra added drama as Sylvia is receiving threatening letters which makes things even more tense.
The Girl Who Never Came Back is a good read, a bit different from the norm as I have said. It wouldn’t be my favourite book by this author but I am glad I read it for the insight it gave into the S.O.E and all its workings and for providing the more emotional and human side of things in terms of how Sylvia was affected by everything she experienced. This was a well researched and important book, yes a bit slow in places but worth the read as the emotions and heartbreak come forth.
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