Wolfsangel by Liza Perrat – Review and Giveaway

My Take

Growing up, you yearn to go far away from home, to step into the world and prove your worth. Ironically, when you get the chance to start living your dreams all that you think of is home. In Autumn 1943, nineteen year old Céleste Roussel of Lucie-sur-Vionne, a French Village under German Occupation, can't wait to move away from home, to join the Resistance to fight for her country and prove her worth. More so, to get away from her resentful and embittered mother. Céleste’s father has been taken away to work in Germany, her sister is a nun cloistered in a convent, her brother and his friends are taking an active role in Resistance and Céleste is stuck at home with Germans and Mother. She wants to study at the university in Lyon and may be take up a job not tend to the farm and become a farmer's wife.

Stuck in a village, she may be, but Céleste is determined to do her bit. Even if it means consorting with the devil to find information. Only the devil is a handsome German. Céleste starts with playing small games finding herself getting entangled into something that she may not get out easily without breaking hearts. But matters of the country take over the matters of the heart. As circumstance change, she joins the Resistors in a more active role and moves to Lyon but yearns for home.

Wolfsangel starts with Céleste reminiscing about a terrible crime that happened at the end of World War II for which she feels guilty. So what did Céleste do? What happened to her German she was playing games with? Why is her mother always bitter and resentful? Who is betraying the villagers to the Germans? Will her father be back from Germany? How did the villagers live during German occupation?

Céleste is the narrator of this engaging story and I got easily absorbed into it. Based on historical facts and events, some of the events in the story are shocking and disturbing, especially, what happens to Céleste herself and what happens to her village. Dealing with guilt for something you have done is one thing, but how do you deal with not knowing if you are responsible for the terrible events. No wonder she cannot forgive herself. A gripping tale of inhuman brutality and human resilience.

SYNOPSIS

(NB: The story involves a small amount of sex, but not graphic. It contains the violence of WW2, but again, not graphic, except one event at the end of the story, which is quite graphic and could be a bit shocking).

Seven decades after German troops march into her village, Céleste Roussel is still unable to assuage her guilt.

1943. German soldiers occupy provincial Lucie-sur-Vionne, and as the villagers pursue treacherous schemes to deceive and swindle the enemy, Céleste embarks on her own perilous mission as her passion for a Reich officer flourishes.

When her loved ones are deported to concentration camps, Céleste is drawn into the vortex of this monumental conflict, and the adventure and danger of French Resistance collaboration.

As she confronts the harrowing truths of the Second World War’s darkest years, Céleste is forced to choose: pursue her love for the German officer, or answer General de Gaulle’s call to fight for her country.

Her fate suspended on the fraying thread of her will, Celeste gains strength from the angel talisman bequeathed to her through her lineage of healer kinswomen.

The decision she makes will shadow the remainder of her days.

A woman’s unforgettable journey to help liberate Occupied France, Wolfsangel is a stirring portrayal of the courage and resilience of the human mind, body and spirit.


Release date: 16th November, 2013.

Page number: approx 390.
Publisher link: www.triskelebooks.co.uk/
ISBN Paperback: 9 782 954 168 128
ISBN E-book: 9 782 954 168 135

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Author bio

Liza grew up in Wollongong, Australia, where she worked as a general nurse and midwife for fifteen years.

When she met her French husband on a Bangkok bus, she moved to France, where she has been living with her husband and three children for twenty years. She works part-time as a French-English medical translator.

Since completing a creative writing course twelve years ago, several of her short stories have won awards, notably the Writers Bureau annual competition of 2004 and her stories have been published widely in anthologies and small press magazines. Her articles on French culture and tradition have been published in international magazines such as France Magazine and France Today.

She has completed four novels and one short-story collection, and is represented by Judith Murdoch of the Judith Murdoch Literary Agency.

Spirit of Lost Angels is the first in an historical series set against a backdrop of rural France. The second in the series –Wolfsangel – will be published in November, 2013, and Liza is busy working on the third novel in the series: Midwife Héloïse – Blood Rose Angel.

Liza reviews books for the Historical Novel Society and Words with Jam magazine.


Author Contact and Other Information

E-mail: liza.perrat@gmail.com
Website: www.lizaperrat.com
Blog: http://lizaperrat.blogspot.com
Twitter: @LizaPerrat
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/liza.perrat.5
Author Collective: www.triskelebooks.co.uk Blog: http://triskelebooks.blogspot.com

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Disclaimer: I received an ebook copy from the author and France Book Tours in exchange for an honest review. I was not compensated for this review and all opinions are my own. Giveaway is sponsored by France Book Tours.

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