false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172029820m/133937.jpg 133937 26 In his 1996 novel, <I>Birdsong</I>, Sebastian Faulks showed himself to be a superb anatomist of men--and, just as importantly, women--at war. Indeed, his depiction of trench combat during World War I was almost painfully vivid: the equivalent of Wilfred Owen in prose, minus the lingering idealism. Now the author shifts his focus to the <I>next</I> global conflict in <I>Charlotte Gray</I>. This time the year is 1942, when "England was blacked out and afraid." The 25-year-old heroine has just traveled down from Edinburgh to London, hoping to make some contribution to the war effort. In short order she falls in love with a British pilot, mourns his disappearance and apparent death in France, and follows him across the Channel to assist the nascent French Resistance.<p> On the face of it, these are the ingredients of a historical potboiler. But Faulks is such a gifted storyteller that we seldom notice the threadbare nature of the raw material. Instead, all but the most churlish reader will be drawn into Charlotte's tribulations, which are not merely geopolitical but amorous: "The last thing she needed was some uncontrolled romance. She wanted to be helpful, she wanted to lead a serious life, not to lie sobbing in her bed for a disembodied yearning. Still less did she wish to see it embodied, with the complication and the fear that all that would entail." (Note: Charlotte is that rare thing, a virginal heroine, at least until page 61.) What's more, the author's evocation of Occupied France is a triumph of grimy, monochromatic realism. Here the small triumphs of Charlotte and her circle are expertly offset by the larger tragedies of what we've come to call, with only middling accuracy, the Good War. <I>--William Davies</I> 1741653 1997 Charlotte Gray total:691|5:100|4:297|3:236|2:48|1:10| 691 2502 971 75 4 2 false false Wed Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2003 Fri Feb 08 07:50:45 -0800 2008 Fri Feb 08 17:42:01 -0800 2008 more...]]> 3 0 false false Wed May 08 00:00:00 -0700 2002 Sat Jun 27 06:41:52 -0700 2009 Sat Jun 27 06:42:38 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Sun Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sun Mar 15 08:32:16 -0700 2009 Sun Mar 15 08:37:38 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 2 false false Sun Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Mon Mar 30 14:07:34 -0700 2009 Mon Mar 30 14:13:28 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 1 false false Wed Jan 21 18:19:09 -0800 2009 Wed Jan 21 18:34:35 -0800 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Fri Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2002 Tue Dec 30 09:22:24 -0800 2008 Wed Dec 31 08:08:32 -0800 2008 more...]]> 5 0 false false Fri Aug 14 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Jun 20 11:15:15 -0700 2009 Fri Aug 28 18:58:50 -0700 2009 Charlotte Gray five stars

As is often the case, I watched the movie adaptation first. The film - starring Cate Blanchett, Rupert Penry-Jones and Michael Gambon - I adored. And that...more...]]> 3 0 false false Sat Sep 26 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Jun 09 01:28:33 -0700 2009 Sun Sep 27 01:15:42 -0700 2009 Birdsong, I found this a little bit disappointing. It's a good novel, but I never felt I was inside someone else's head as I did with Birdsong. The writing as ever is beautiful, but the basic plot is thin, and the love story lacks something because Peter Gregory is absent for much of the...more...]]> 3 1 false false Sat Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2000 Wed Jun 25 15:13:21 -0700 2008 Fri Jun 27 13:08:25 -0700 2008
Charlotte Gray is sent to Occupied France to run an errand for an undercover special operations unit. However she has a missio...more...]]> 3 0 false false Sat Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Wed Mar 19 05:07:09 -0700 2008 Fri Apr 25 19:01:48 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 1 false false Fri Jun 27 12:28:59 -0700 2008 Fri Feb 29 15:15:23 -0800 2008 Fri Jun 27 12:28:59 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 0 false false Sat Apr 15 00:00:00 -0700 2000 Thu Jul 16 10:01:39 -0700 2009 Thu Jul 16 10:03:39 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Thu Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Oct 24 02:52:05 -0700 2009 Sat Oct 24 02:55:49 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Sun Jul 06 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed May 21 19:36:20 -0700 2008 Sun Jul 06 21:53:54 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Mar 25 17:15:45 -0700 2009 Sat Mar 21 19:42:51 -0700 2009 Wed Mar 25 17:15:45 -0700 2009 2 0 false false Tue Jan 06 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Fri Jan 02 22:27:25 -0800 2009 Tue Jan 06 21:08:13 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Sun Sep 13 18:52:15 -0700 2009 Sat Sep 12 07:10:02 -0700 2009 Sun Sep 13 18:52:15 -0700 2009 Between Silk and Cyanide.]]> 4 0 false false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Tue Apr 07 17:00:32 -0700 2009 Tue Apr 07 17:02:40 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Sat Jan 03 19:35:26 -0800 2009 Sat Jan 03 19:36:27 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Wed Nov 26 08:30:21 -0800 2008 Wed Nov 26 08:30:58 -0800 2008 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=133937