Review
Powered by a giant "what if?"
Resistance is an
unexpectedly suspenseful meditation on the ways the schisms of war can break
down when reduced to the human element, isolated from the larger machine. With
finely detailed prose and compassionate narration, Owen Sheers shapes an unusual
war novel, almost completely removed from violence and political struggles, yet
no less terrifying.
When the women in a remote Welsh valley wake to find their men gone without a
trace, and a handful of German soldiers arrive days later on a mysterious
mission, the tiny farming community is thrown into a state of suspended
animation as a brutal winter descends, forcing the women to form a tentative
alliance with the soldiers in order to survive. Mysteries abound, as the fate of
the disappeared Welsh men is unknown, and the purpose of the German soldiers is
unclear. As...
Beyond the Book
The British Resistance
During WWII, Winston Churchill initiated the British Resistance Organization, or
Auxiliary Units, as preparation for the expected invasion of the British Isles
by Nazi Germany. In Owen Sheers's alternative history, the Nazis succeed, and
the insurgents mobilize at once. A highly secretive organization, the resistance
primarily employed farmers and countrymen with an intimate knowledge of their
locality who would be able to live off the land, isolated from a larger military
force, staying behind to fight after occupation. While many were drawn from the
Home Guard (local volunteers otherwise ineligible for military service, usually
due to age) and operated under their guise, others were sworn to absolute
secrecy, even from their...
