Lavender and pink streaked the dawn sky, the fresh saline scent of the briny marsh cleansing the crisp morning air. Yvette stood in rubber boots, harvesting shellfish in a secluded cove, far from suspicious, watchful eyes...
***
Traumatized by horrors witnessed during the Nazi invasion of France, a young woman retreats to the dense Breton woods where she becomes a member of the clandestine French Resistance. When she finds a critically injured American paratrooper whose plane was shot down, she shelters the wounded soldier in her secluded cottage, determined to heal him despite the enormous risk.
Ostracized by villagers who have labeled her a witch, she is betrayed by an informant who reports to the Butcher—the monstrous leader of the local paramilitary organization that collaborates with the Germans. As the enemy closes in, she must elude the Gestapo while helping the Resistance reunite the American with his regiment and join the Allied Forces in the Battle of Brittany.
Can true love triumph against all odds under the oppressive Third Reich?
***
Set in France during the Nazi occupation of World War Two, this exciting story has the power to transport the reader to the time and place.
This author is new to me, so I did not know what to expect from this book. It exceeded my expectations in that it was gripping and I was hooked by the plot at quite an early point.
The main character, Yvette, lives in a cabin in the woods. She is a healer and has been labelled as a witch by the townsfolk. She is also a member of the French Resistance which is led by her brother Jules. When she discovers an unconscious American soldier dangling upside down by his tangled parachute from a tree, she enlists the help of her comrades to take him back to her cabin to care for him.
Yvette is aware of the danger she is in, and this demonstrates her bravery. There are several occasions throughout the story where the reader can admire her courage. She is a strong woman and this is evident from the very beginning of the book.
The author brings her characters alive extremely well. Equally, the setting is well portrayed. I felt that she had researched both the place and period very well.
I have read many books set during WWII and this is a good addition to the canon. It has everything that you would expect from the genre: adventure and bravery, and some romance to boot.
I recommend this book to lovers of historical fiction and those who enjoy books with a strong female lead.
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
Formats: e-book
About the Author:
Jennifer Ivy Walker has an MA in French literature and is a former high school teacher and professor of French at a state college in Florida. Her novels encompass a love for French language, literature, history, and culture, incorporating her lifelong study, summers abroad, and many trips to France.
The Witch of the Breton Woods is heart-pounding suspense set during WWII in Nazi-occupied France, where a young woman in the French Resistance shelters and heals a wounded American soldier, hiding him from the Gestapo and the monstrous Butcher who are relentlessly hunting him.
(ARC and media courtesy of The Coffee Pot Book Club)
(all opinions are my own)
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