| Summary |
In 1939, Helene, young, naive and recently married, waves goodbye to her husband, who has enlisted in the British army. Her home Guernsey is soon invaded by the Germans, who remain there for the length of the war. Forty years later, her daughter Roz begins a search for the truth about her father, and stumbles into the secret history of her mother's life, and the painful choices she made to survive the Nazi occupation. Island Song vividly evokes the war years in Guernsey, delving into the psychological toll of living with the enemy. Written with emotional acuity and passionate intensity, it speaks to the moral complexities of war-time allegiances, the hidden trauma for women during wartime, and asks whether, and how, we can claim ownership of our own stories. |
