The Welsh Girl - Peter Ho Davies

A novel set in a Welsh village in 1944, The Welsh Girl shows how war makes people question everything they thought safe and familiar and stuggle to adapt to a world filled with fear and uncertainty. Playing with gender roles and the false stereotypes surrounding enemies and heros, the novel shows that war, love and hate are never simple and that humanity can connect people who are meant to be foes.

The novel centres upon three main characters: Esther is a 17-year-old barmaid who feels trapped and frustrated in her home village; Karsten is a German soldier incarcerated in a POW camp after surrendering under enemy fire; Rotherham is a German Jew tasked with interviewing Nazi Rudolph Hess, who claims to have no memory of his part in the Nazi party but swears he was not involved in the Final Solution.

Identity is a central theme to The Welsh Girl. Rotherham is desperate to hide his Jewish roots from Hess and those around him, struggling with hatred for the anti-Semitism he and his family faced but keen to hide his Jewish roots from his colleagues and the people he interrogates. He passes himself off as an Englishmen, using his fluent German to his advantage. During the novel, we discover that Rotherham has often pretended to be a captured German soldier, hiding among the ranks to gather intelligence. But he is discovered. Hess also sees through his facade; he confronts Rotherham and tells him he believes he is a Jew. Rotherham's repeated failed attempts at hiding who you are shows that no matter what lengths he goes to, he canot escape who and what he really is.

Esther finds herself violated and abused after believing the English soldier who courts her is a gentleman. She finds herself in a situation she can't handle and is raped by the soldier, an encounter which leaves her pregnant. It is her naive notions of right and wrong that let her down again following the rape. The reader sees her thinking of the word but dismissing it because her idea of rape involves horror, screaming and melodrama. She tells herself that she went out with the soldier and that they had been seen in public together and entirely dismissed the idea that she was attacked.

The notion of nationality is important here. Later in the novel, when Karsten is on the run, the villagers fear the roaming German could violate their women; there is no notion that these violations could already be happening and have happened closer to home. Because Karsten is 'the enemy' he is the man to be feared, the man without morals, the man who will take advantage. But ironically this very man Esther is meant to fear is the one man that shows her love, care and unswerving loyalty. The notion of nationality is important in terms of Esther's baby. She is 17 and an unmarried mother, two facts that could be guaranteed to ruin her in 1944. But by pretending the child is that of lost war hero Rhys, Esther is embraced and supported by the community, a young woman who would be a married mother if her 'lover' had returned from war.

Absent mothers are another key theme in the novel. Karsten pines for his mother's approval, torturing himself over his surrender. He lies to his mother, pretending he is fine, and she lies to him in return in the single letter he receives from her while in the POW camp. He is desperate for her to perceive him as a hero, not a coward. Esther's mother is also absent after passing away. In her mother's absence, she finds herself taking on the motherly role, keeping the farm and house running, her life a constant drudgery of household duties. Her maternal role is reinforced by her care for evacuee Jim. She loves, disciplines and watches over him like a mother, positioning her as a woman far beyond her 17 years.

Overall, The Welsh Girl is a fascinating insight into three people's very different experiences of war. It shows how set notions of enemy and hero are a lot less clear cut, even though the people left behind may not want to face up to that. The novel is filled with lies, deceptions and omissions, all of which allow people to continue in these deluded notions to enable them to continue to comfort themselves during the harrowing realities of war.

My next read: My Piece of Happiness by Lewis Davies.