I found myself drawn into this story gently but surely. The story builds, layer upon layer and you want things to work out, but everyone keeps bumping into the truth.

It is at once a wonderful story about telling the truth and a candid view of the cost of first world war, about which I knew little.


Read it.

At the end of the day, self interest drives the plot. But to get to this revelation, there are convoluted and abstract conversations - almost too mind numbing to follow. I have adopted the Nancy Pearl 50 page rule - if not for this review I would have put it down after 50 pages. And probably not come back.

The daily privations and loss during a war time occupation are held at bay by generosity and ingenuity resulting in a clandestine feast of contraband pork. The book club hastily formed as an excuse for breaking Nazi curfew becomes a source of strength, courage and hope for the members struggling to survive the war, and results in a journey home for the journalist who visits them after the war.