Charlotte Gray

Book Details

Library

Author

Sebastian Faulks

Category

Drama/War

Editor

Reference #

Contributor

Location

Translator

Status

Publisher

Random House

Owner

Country

USA

Personal

Language

Read it

Yes

Year Published

1998

Date Read

18/01/2006

ISBN

037550169

Personal Rating

 4/10

LCCN

Purchase

Edition

Purchase Date

Printing

Acquired from 

Nana - Xmas '05

Binding

Hardcover

Price

$0.00

Pages

399

Value

$0.00

Overview

Set in England and France during the darkest days of World War II, Charlotte Gray, like Birdsong, depicts a love affair that is both shaped and thwarted by war.

It is 1942. London is blacked out, but France is under a greater darkness, as the occupying Nazi forces encroach ever closer in a tense waiting game. Charlotte Gray, a volatile but determined young woman, travels south from Edinburgh. Working in London, she has a brief but intense love affair with an RAF pilot. When his plane is lost over France, she contrives to go there herself to work in the Resistance and to search for him - but then is unwilling to leave as she finds that the struggle for the country's fate is intimately linked to her own battle to take control her life.

Comment

I found this book easy to get into, but hard to stay with. Charlotte is a very likable girl, Gregory is admirable as the hero pilot, and her determination to find him when he goes missing in France is the first sign of an unbending courage. That said, I found the text itself hard to relax into - the deep musings of each character don't seem to gel very well with the actual action - the flurry of activity that Charlotte encounters as an agent, as a suspected spy, even on her way home again, following Levade as best she can.

There were parts of this that were absolutely heartbreaking, particularly when the two boys were on their way to see their parents. Actually, I felt the most powerful parts of the story were the side lines, not the main itself about Charlotte and Gregory. The supporting cast seemed much more interesting, especially Julian and Levade.

I'm glad that I read this book, but it's not one I'll be rushing back to.