Loved it! Something about books with an island setting always draw me in. I've become greatly intrigued with The Channel Islands in particular ever since reading The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. This book only served to reinforce that fascination.

The Soldier's Wife had so much to say - about human dignity and perseverance and the make-do spirit and compassion (and yes, passion too). Sure, the inhabitants of Guernsey Island who survived the Nazi occupation between 1939 to 1945 p More...

I loved "Potato Peel Society" when I read it a few years ago, so when I saw that this novel was set on Guernsey during WWII I had to read it--and I'm glad that I did. It is a richly written novel with a bit more serious narrative than "Potato." I did not want the book to end and it was worth every page. Well drawn characters, a believable plot and appealing setting description make this a memorable novel.

A quick read, and WWII novels always provide such potential for melodrama. After reading the Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society I enjoyed getting another Guernsey point of view. Vivienne and her daughters were loveable and I enjoyed the suspense of not knowing whether Gunther was good or bad.

Thank you Goodreads for letting me win this book!
I had never heard of Guernsey until I read The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society which is a book I love. Like the Potato Peel Pie Society The Soldier's Wife also takes place in Guernsey during the German Occupation in WWII. Vivienne, who is a resident of Guernsey and has a husband who is a soldier fighting for Britain is left to care for her 2 daughters and mother-in-law while he is away. When Germany occupies Guernsey German soldiers More...

Actual Rating: 3.5/5 stars
Level of Recommendation: Recommended
Recommend to: fans of historical fiction

Truthfully, I found it a bit difficult to get into the story in the beginning, but the prose is simple enough that I continued reading. This book was told in first person, but I honestly thought it could have been told in third person without detracting from the story. Many lines seemed like something you would read in a third person perspective novel, but then I'd see "I said" after a line of d More...

I was glad I was on vacation when I started this book because I couldn't put it down. It is beautifully written. The descriptions of the sights and smells of the island make you want to visit, but it is easy to imagine what it is like. It also shows that not all German soldiers are monsters like are portrayed in most. WWII stories. Some are kind people who had normal lives and had no choise about serving. If you enjoyed Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, you'll love this book.

This book contains lovely descriptions of the landscape and the daily life of the main character. I think the author is somewhat slow to get into the story. I was 150 pages in before it really started to take off. It is written in the first person and in the present tense.
Vivienne lives on the island Of Guernsey with her two daughters. Her husband is at war but she has never been in love with him. With the occupation, Guernsey has no little or no access to news of the war. Next door, four Germa More...

There's an ethereal quality to this story that really pulls you into the lead character's head and makes you see things through her filter. It feels dreamlike or foggy--as you imagine Vivienne must feel her life has become, as she watches Germans bomb and then occupy her small island home and even settle in next door. With her emotionally estranged husband off with the British army, she finds herself inexplicably drawn to one of her new neighbors. It was compelling to watch her try to find some More...

This is very much the story of the narrator -- and I didn't like her. It was a slow read, and I almost put it down a couple of times. Some things were very well done, others not so much. The only reason I gave it three stars instead of two is that I think there are parts of the book that will stay with me. After a good night's sleep, it is back down to 2 stars. They can't get food on the island during the occupation (which is well documented), but cigarettes seemed plentiful with no explanation. More...

Vivienne de la Mare has stayed in Guernsey while her husband is off fighting the war. She has two daughters, blanche a typical self-centered teenager who is missing out on dances, dating and fashion, and the adorable Millie, who at age six has more sense than most grownups. Vivienne also cares for her mother-in-law who is quickly deteriorating with dementia.

As the Germans establish themselves as an occupying force on the island, and a group of officers moves into the house next door, island lif More...

I found this book powerful and somewhat dark. Vivienne is an unhappy wife living on the channel island of Guernsey when the British forces abandon them and the Nazi occupying force arrives. She is a dedicated mother, devoted to caring for her two daughters and her ailing mother-in-law who is increasingly confused. She feels isolated from her estranged husband who had carried on an affair for many years before he joined the British forces. She finds herself deeply attracted to a German officer wh More...

Vivienne lives on Guernsey island with her two daughters and her mother-in-law who has dementia during the World War 2. She makes the decision to stay on the island instead of fleeing to London like many locals have. She has made the decision to stay telling herself everything will be OK.... then the Germans came.

Curfews, food shortages and the impending winter are the least of Vivienne's worries after she starts to have feelings for an officer living next door. Vivienne must decide to either gi More...

2.5 stars, but I rounded up because I feel nice today. Also as a sort of atonement for this bit that I just have to get off my chest:

PLEASE DO NOT EVER NAME YOUR ROMANTIC INTEREST GUNTHER. I am a child of the '90s and '00s, when I hear "Gunther," I think this: .
If you live under a rock and have never seen an episode of the hit sitcom "Friends," that is Gunther, the comically creepy coffee shop worker who is obsessed with Rachel. So yeah. Gunther was supposed to be this intense, attractive, mora More...

Originally Reviewed at Novel Escapes

I picked up The Soldier’s Wife a few weeks ago after the cover drew me in and the story had me adding to my pile. Having loved The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, I had high hopes for this novel and wasn’t disappointed. The writing itself was stunning as was the depiction of Guernsey and the story stole a bit of my heart. The Soldier’s Wife will definitely sit on my shelf to be reread.

What stood out most for me was how astounded and left in awe More...

(This review also appears on Amazon.co.uk)

I'm not going to summarise the plot of this novel as that has been done more than adequately many times already, but I have to say that whilst I found this book an interesting enough read, for me it just wasn't anywhere near as good as what I had been expecting. I perceived that this would be a book focusing on the impact the German occupation of Guernsey had on the islanders, intermingled with that of a romance between an islander and a German soldier; More...

A novel full of grand passion and intensity, The Soldier's Wife asks "What would you do for your family?" "What should you do for a stranger?" and "What would you do for love?"

As World War II draws closer and closer to Guernsey, Vivienne de la Mare knows that there will be sacrifices to be made. Not just for herself, but for her two young daughters and for her mother-in-law, for whom she cares while her husband is away fighting. What she does not expect is that she will fall in love with one of More...

GERMAN REVIEW

Ich mag Geschichten über verbotene Lieben und ich lese zur Zeit auch gerne Romane, welche zeitlich zur Zeit des zweiten Weltkriegs angesiedelt sind. Somit war „Für immer, Vivienne“ prädestiniert um von mir gelesen zu werden.

Margaret Leroy nimmt den Leser mit auf die Kanalinsel Guernsey und beschreibt die Landschaft und die Insel so bildgewaltig, dass ich das Gefühl hatte, die Insel zu kennen und zu wissen, wie es dort aussieht. Diese Beschreibungen haben mir unheimlich gut gefallen. More...

This was a book that I read on my Kindle. It is not a book that I would normally read. It was about wartime and how things that people thought was important in the time of war dont matter. The woman Vivienne has a husband who cheated on her and then went to fight in the war. She has two young children in the home and a mother in law who is losing her mind. The woman tries to be friendly to all and learn the new rules of wartime. She meets a man and instantly feels a connection. He appears severa More...

The Soldier’s Wife by Margaret Leroy

The old saying, “All’s fair in love and war” takes on a new meaning when reading "The Soldier’s Wife" by Margaret Leroy. It is the summer of 1940 and Vivienne’s husband Eugene has gone to London to join the fight, while she remains in Guernsey, a small channel island, with her mother-in-law Evelyn and her daughters Millie and Blanche.

When the soldiers have all left the island, it is clear the island’s occupants must evacuate their homes. Vivienne wavers on wh More...

Coming back into reality can be horribly startling at times. That's the best way to discern an excellent book from a simply okay book. It's the excellent books that make you forget where you are in time and space, entirely blocking out the clock, one could spend hours reading an excellent book and think it was only minutes. Perhaps, of course, in my particular office this may be a problem, but it's all worth it in the end.
I hadn't, in a very long while, read a book that made me forget myself, be More...

Ever read The Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Greene? It’s about a Jewish teenager named Patty whose town in Arkansas is to house a German prisoner of war camp. Despite the ill will and fears regarding the German nation, Patty befriends one of the young soldiers in the camp. Her friendship with him is an escape from her hard home life and from loneliness but when their relationship is discovered Patty has to choose between popular opinion, her family and this soldier who means so much to he More...

Set on the English Channel Island of Guernsey during the Nazi occupation of WWII, The Soldier’s Wife is the story of Vivienne de la Mare, her affair with a German soldier, and her relationship with her family and neighbors. When we meet Vivienne she is caring for her mother-in-law and her two daughters while her husband is away fighting for the allied forces in London. From the onset, Vivienne is faced with agonizing decisions; the first of which is whether or not to get on the last boat to Lond More...

My take: I had no idea there were these little cow islands between the British Isles and the continent until I read The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society a few years ago. Now I just want to go visit them. But definitely not during a war. Even more definitely not during a time they are occupied by another country working on a little genocide. Just to summarize, there are a few little islands nobody really cared much about that happened to be strategically located between the European More...

Love and Occupation

The Soldier’s Wife, by Margaret Leroy, tells the story of Vivienne de la Mare, an allied soldier’s wife living on the island of Guernsey during the German occupation of that island. Vivienne cares for her two daughters, Blanch and Millie, as well as her mother-in-law, who suffers from dementia. Deciding to remain on the island when the Germans come to occupy the island proves to be a decision with bittersweet results for Vivienne. German officers take residence next door to he More...

Vivienne de la Mare is not your usual protagonist because she is not a hero with preconceived opinions but as a real person that struggles with all the same shadowy doubts that we encounter.
Vivienne de la Mare’s dilemmas start in her spontaneous announcement that she and her daughters are leaving the Island, because the Germans are coming, to her looking at that little ship and turning around in an about face.
The story is about the occupation of Island of Guernsey by the Germans in WWII. It is More...

3.75 Stars. Vivienne de la Mare lives in an old farmhouse with her two daughters on Guernsey in the Channel Islands during WWII. Her husband is away fighting in the English army, and it quickly becomes apparent to the reader that Vivienne's marriage is a loveless and unhappy one. The island suddenly becomes occupied by German troops, some moving in in the house beside her own. Even though Vivienne tries hard to remain aloof for the sake of loyalty (to her country and husband), she eventually ent More...

Margaret Leroy’s upcoming summer release of The Soldier’s Wife will surely be one to be read and discussed in many book club groups, as it is a story that offers a lot to contemplate.

Vivienne de la Mare, living on the island of Guernsey in the Channel Islands just off the coast of England, is a housewife raising two young daughters just after WWII breaks out and takes her husband away to war. Not thinking that their island will be affected, the islanders get a rude awakening one day as German p More...

Author is busy telling us what to think, what moral or world view we should have.

pg 58: I will leave everything as it is. This is th only protest I can make, the only way I can fight this : to live as I have always lived, not to let them change me at all.

pg. 94: referencing the fight with Blanche about going dancing with the German soldiers:
... embracing the restriction ... Yet I know that a cloistered room, however willing entered, will become a prison

pg.161 referencing the story of the hunte More...

Margaret Leroy's The Soldier's Wife takes place during the Nazi occupation of the island of Guernsey during WWII, and its third person narrative follows Vivienne de la Mare, a woman who must daily walk the fine edge between patriotism and practicality. After her husband enlists, it falls to her to keep her daughters and her ailing mother-in-law safe in a world that has suddenly become alien to her. When German officers requisition the house next door and turn out to be rather neighborly, Vivienn More...

The setting, the isle of Guernsey, was beguiling, quaint, rustic and completely at odds with the tensions created by the German occupation. I had to suspend belief and just savor the relationship between Vivienne and Gunther (after all, how quiet can you be in an old farm house inhabited by three other persons?)as they created their own isle, their gentle refuge from the war and its devastation of every day life. Just as the conditions of war often bring out an unexpected side of a person, Vivie More...