Reviewed by Emma Crowley
France 1943: Amelie Garnier loathes the enemy soldiers who occupy their sleepy French village. Forced to work as a secretary for the Nazis, her heart pounds as she speeds through the narrow streets, enemy secrets in her bicycle basket, home to her husband Bruno. Bruno is hailed as a hero for hiding resistance workers in their cellar but only Amelie knows the truth of what goes in their isolated farmhouse. And what danger she is in
Present day: Longing for a new start away from the tragedy she left in London, Emma arrives at the forlorn honey-coloured farmhouse. Sorting through dusty cupboards, she discovers a sad-eyed wedding photograph of the previous owner, Amelie, and cannot shake the sense that Amelie too has known great grief.
But when she mentions Amelie’s name in the ancient, cobbled square the locals look away and mutter about a devastating betrayal. Emma knows what it feels like to be wrongly judged and is sure she can still feel Amelie’s gentle presence in the rooms of her new home. If Emma brings Amelie’s truth into the light, will she find a path forward from the rawness of her own loss, and hope for a brighter future?
Many thanks to Bookouture via NetGalley for my copy of The French Wife to review and to Sharon for having my review on the blog.
The prologue to Ann Bennett’s new book, The French Wife, provides an emotional and tension filled opening to a story that highlights the bravery, courage and dedication of those working for the Resistance in France during World War Two. A woman is cycling furiously from the local town back to her farmhouse to warn those there that the Germans are about to raid the house. The repercussions of which could potentially be huge if they find what they are hell bent on locating. The woman believes that everything is all her fault, that all the good work/resistance has been undone. As she nears the farmstead she hears screams and so ends the prologue. Brief but impactful the reader wants to know all the background details that led to this explosive introduction but one must be patient and as the story proper begins the author deftly navigates back and forth between France during the occupation and the present day.
I’ve always said this about the books that I have previously read by Ann Bennett and I will say it again there is certainly no messing around as the author always gets straight to the heart of the action. I am weary of historical fiction books with endless filler in chapters or scenes and thankfully this doesn’t occur with Ann Bennet’s writing. Every thought, action, word or deed is warranted and has its rightful place consistently propelling the plot forward with lots of chapters which end on cliffhangers. Which only serves to encourage the reader to keep reading on. Just one more chapter and then you find you have read huge chunks of the book in one sitting. This story is an emotional read packed full of tension, suspicion and suspense. The themes of courage, loyalty, sacrifice dedication, grief and the impactful consequences of secrets are aptly explored. The author highlighted how people’s loyalties during this traumatising period of history were tested to the limits as she says herself in her end notes the lines between traditional heroes and villains became blurred in reality.
In the present day Emma has just arrived in France from England having purchased La Chataigner, a farmstead located near to the town of St.Marie des Champs. She found the property on a road trip through France which she had undertaken to try and find the new start she had so desperately wanted following her divorce from her husband brought about by the loss of her young daughter Eliza. Emma feels the property has called to her and as she is an interior designer she can bring the house and the surrounding buildings back to life as they have lain vacant since the 1960’s. She knows nothing about the former occupants or the history of the place but the more she explores the more she senses there is a story to be told and with locals remaining evasive she is determined more than ever to get to the bottom of things. Finding bullet holes in the wood and then photographs of a couple in a drawer her interest is piqued even more. Furthermore, she locates a cabin in the woods which looks as if it has been used as a retreat and the paintings inside call to her. Employing local builder Gaston, she sets about renovating the farmstead and as the house is brought back to life the story of its former occupants Amelie and Bruno starts to make itself known.
Emma was using the farm as a source of healing and a chance for her to find some of her former self whilst trying to embrace what life looks like post trauma. She has had tragedy in her life as the house itself has and by finding answers and keeping digging no matter what resistance that is met life will hopefully come full circle for her. I enjoyed Emma’s chapters which bridged the gap between the past and present perfectly. I could tie clues from the two time periods together and explanations were given that helped me make sense of things and I became compelled by what Emma was trying to do. I will say though regarding the romantic element of her storyline, I felt it was way too fast and if it hadn’t been present the book would have worked perfectly well without it. It just felt as if it had to be there to give Emma a bit more of a storyline regarding her own personal situation whereas I was perfectly content to focus on Amelie and the resistance work and what she was going through. This is a personal minor quibble and purely my own observation and doesn’t detract from the readers enjoyment or understanding of the plot as a whole.
By far my favourite part of the book was Amelie’s story of occupation in the war. The author paints a vivid, realistic and dramatic picture of what life was like for those at the time once the Germans rolled into town in 1942.Amelie’s works as a secretary for the mayor at the maririe (town hall). Her work changes once German officers take control of the hall, the town and surrounding areas. But Amelie, is clever and she knows that she can use this to her advantage and given that her farmstead where she lives with her husband Bruno has many workers and at times members of the resistance staying there anything she can do to fight for the freedom of her country than she will grasp all available opportunities with open hands. Amelie had a tough home life. Bruno, was cruel and an absolute brute. He mistreated her and I felt like she was living in his shadow of oppression. Her life was curtailed and strict and regimented but her job offered her an escape.
Working for the Germans, it appears as if Amelie has been compromised and is betraying her country but she is astute and as I have said uses this to her advantage. Is she morally right to do what she is doing? Perhaps not and even more so when on a personal level she becomes embroiled in something which I didn’t approve of. I know the author presented a very well thought out cause and supported Amelie’s actions in relation to one aspect of her storyline. Yet, I still couldn’t condone it. In this case for me love didn’t win out. I think I was looking more at the bigger picture. Don’t get me wrong I had endless admiration for the sacrifices and dangerous deeds undertaken by Amelie but I felt she strayed to far into dangerous territory and I questioned whether it would be worth it for her in the end? She makes impossible choices which have significant consequences for the bigger picture. She has a public image but deep down there is a lot more going on with her. I do believe at the heart of it all she had very good intentions and would do anything to help those in peril but for me her heart ruled slightly too much over her head. She is proud of the contributions she and those close to her are making for the resistance effort but in doing so are they putting themselves in needless danger?
I thoroughly enjoyed The French Wife. It’s a fantastic example of WW2 historical fiction done very well. The plot and pace are brilliant and have the reader begging the questions-how far would you go to protect someone you love? Can the actions taken during wartime be judged fairly in the present day? Can the truth remain hidden for generations or can Emma expose things and allow past hurts to heal? Fand of Kirsten Hannah and Fiona Valpy will particularly enjoy this emotional read packed full of village secrets, strong female characters, forbidden truths, betrayal and sacrifices. This is a book I would definitely recommend.
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