The Return

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I feel I reached my personal saturation point with World War II novels some time ago and yet they are still being published by the hundreds. Thus, I let this title languish on my TBR (to-be-read) pile for ages. While it is based in those war years (1939-1945) it is not about spies, code-breakers, the Blitz or battles, but rather about a modest ordinary family living on an English farm.

In June, 1939, Jack is on the run from his home on Tyneside and is wandering the back roads of Berkshire looking for somewhere to lie low and where he might be safe. He rescues a young woman, Gwen, when she is thrown from her horse and helps her home to the farm where she lives with her widowed father, Jim.

Grateful for his help, Jim offers Jack a temporary job. Jack is unsure, having only ever worked in a shipyard as a riveter, but unexpectedly finds satisfaction and peace in farm labour and the fresh country air. He also starts to fall in love with Gwen, but she has eyes for someone else and, almost against her wishes, Jack will come to play a vital role in her life although he knows she will never love him. As war looms, he decides it is best that he leaves to enlist and to put himself in the firing line in battle as the only way out for him and Gwen. However, Jack does return and has to face his greatest challenge of all.

The characters are likeable, with their own individual flaws. Jack, solid and dependable, yet also capable of rage. Gwen, whose youth and inexperience create traps for her. Jim, the strict, yet loving father. Muriel, the irritable but wise housekeeper. Nora, the flashy and flirty Land Army girl. Ted, the lonely neighbour who also carries a torch for Gwen. And members of the haughty entitled Allingham family who look down their noses at those who till the soil and grow their food.

The descriptions of rural life in meadows, fields and woods carry echoes of Thomas Hardy and everything from the simple routines of milking the cows to threshing the grain are crafted in such a way that they are an intrinsic part of the tale and never feel like padded research.

I read a great deal, but it’s been a long time since I’ve loved a book so much that I almost didn’t want it to end and wish I’d read it much earlier. With her tender and astute observations of human foibles, I very much look forward to other books by Anita Frank.

Five Stars

Dymocks

Amazon.com

Amazon.co.uk

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