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43rd out of 101 books
—
67 voters
Resistance
by
Owen Sheers
It's 1944 and the D-Day landing have failed. Sarah Lewis wakes up to find herself alone - her husband has disappeared, along with all the men in her Welsh border valley. As the women work to run the farms throughout the winter, a German patrol arrives, led by Captain Albrecht Wolfram. Cut off from the surrounding war, the lines between collaboration, occupation and surviva...more
Hardcover, 280 pages
Published
by Faber & Faber
(first published February 10th 2007)
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A valley side too far - Resistance by Owen Sheers
In Resistance Owen Sheers re-writes the history of World War Two. Germany has invaded Britain. The United States, having suffered reversals both east and west, has retreated home to navel gaze. Britain thus is occupied, but has not yet succumbed.
In a remote rural community on the Welsh borders, a whole valley of farming families awakes one morning to find that all the men have gone. No-one knows where. They were recruited, perhaps, into an undergr...more
In Resistance Owen Sheers re-writes the history of World War Two. Germany has invaded Britain. The United States, having suffered reversals both east and west, has retreated home to navel gaze. Britain thus is occupied, but has not yet succumbed.
In a remote rural community on the Welsh borders, a whole valley of farming families awakes one morning to find that all the men have gone. No-one knows where. They were recruited, perhaps, into an undergr...more
This novel was a very beautiful character study with a twinge of suspense. It speculates the state of England had the Nazis succeeded in invading during WWII. Though the story at times examines the national reaction, the focus is really on a small group of women living alone in the Welsh borderlands. Their husbands have left without warning to join the resistance in fighting the Nazis. Within weeks, a patrol of Nazi soliders comes to their remote valley and establishes themselves for a covert mi...more
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Resistance by Owen Sheers is based on the premise that D-Day failed and that Germany invaded Great Britain. The author, a poet, grew up in the area where the story takes place and this shows in the writing. It is highly descriptive and quite beautiful, weaving the history of the land, a valley on the Welsh border, with the lives of it's people. It is also a description of an occupation and the consequences of war.
There are many ways that people can resist, and Sheers layers his well-written, lyr...more
There are many ways that people can resist, and Sheers layers his well-written, lyr...more
I’ve read a couple of other books set during WWII with German soldiers who were presented as sympathetic characters. This one is now added to that list. Resistance is a novel set during WWII with a “what if” thrown in the mix. The D-Day landing was a failure and England is occupied by German troops. Since there is no official British military to protect its citizens the only resistance is offered by way of secret operations by insurgents – made up of mostly untrained citizens who spy and do what...more
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What if the D-Day Invasion failed, and the Germans counterattacked successfully? In the remote Welsh countryside, the men have left to form counterinsurgent cells without any notice to their wives. The wives carry on with the planting, gardening, and sheep tending until a German patron stumbles into their valley. The small group of German soldiers becomes unwitting over-winter residents when an early snowstorm closes the mountain pass. As the bitter winter closes in, the women and the soldiers r...more
An imaginatively scary alternative ending to the Second World War, in which the Germans invade England, taking it over bit by bit. The novel focuses on a group of women living in a valley in rural Wales, abruptly abandoned by their husbands who head off to join some kind of underground resistance movement. After a short time, the women are joined by a unit of deserting German soldiers, and in time the two groups come to trust each other in a delicate balance of friendship and respect.
The story i...more
The story i...more
This is a beautifully written book, a "what if" that ponders what might have happened if D-Day had failed and England had been invaded and forced to "resist" German troops. In focusing upon a small group of German soldiers who come to occupy a valley of female farmers (their husbands have left, for reasons that are revealed in the book), Sheers thoughtfully addresses the difficulties both the Germans (who are primarily depicted as tired of fighting and with wounds of their own) and the English (...more
This book is a fiction of an alternative history. Here the situation is that D-day was a bust and the Germans are winning World War II and have now invaded Britain.
The action takes place in a very small farming village in Wales. As the novel begins, the women in the village wake up one morning to discover that all the men are gone. There are no notes left for them, and very few clues as to where and why they have disappeared. Getting together, they decide it is in their best interest to keep thi...more
The action takes place in a very small farming village in Wales. As the novel begins, the women in the village wake up one morning to discover that all the men are gone. There are no notes left for them, and very few clues as to where and why they have disappeared. Getting together, they decide it is in their best interest to keep thi...more
I had picked this book up a couple times but it took a while to get past the first few pages. (Note: do not read while trying to write a dissertation). However, this book goes into my personal category of 'flourless chocolate torte'. Dense and lovely, a small bite is to be savoured. It captures one of my favourite things of Sheers's style as it is so poetic in the prose. I love how the layout is used as well such as the 'r' in the telegram. 'The typewriter ribbon needed replacing. the letters we...more
I’d be intrigued to know how well Resistance sold, given it faced the dual obstacles of genre pigeonholing (it’s an alternative history of the second world war so could be classed as fantasy or even sci-fi) and, in my edition at least, an appalling cover that makes it look like winsome romance for your gran.
The premise itself is innately intriguing if slightly hackneyed: what if Nazis won the war and British citizens formed an underground resistance? Where Sheers takes it is something completel...more
The premise itself is innately intriguing if slightly hackneyed: what if Nazis won the war and British citizens formed an underground resistance? Where Sheers takes it is something completel...more
3º Livro do meu mês temático - 2º Guerra Mundial
Este é um livro bastante cativante, com um ambiente riquíssimo, de cores vivas e quentes tal como o seu enredo. Contra todas as expectativas, vi-me presa á história desde a primeira página. Passada num ambiente rural, a vida das personagens tem tudo menos facilidades: o trabalho é penoso e cansativo, a vida vai caindo num ciclo monótono, sem grandes capacidades para luxos. Para piorar, Inglaterra começa a ser invadida pela Alemanha a partir de Sete...more
Este é um livro bastante cativante, com um ambiente riquíssimo, de cores vivas e quentes tal como o seu enredo. Contra todas as expectativas, vi-me presa á história desde a primeira página. Passada num ambiente rural, a vida das personagens tem tudo menos facilidades: o trabalho é penoso e cansativo, a vida vai caindo num ciclo monótono, sem grandes capacidades para luxos. Para piorar, Inglaterra começa a ser invadida pela Alemanha a partir de Sete...more
Imagine a different turn of events in WWII. D-day was not a surprise and not a success. The eastern front did not challenge Hitler. The Americans were not the presiding force. The Germans invaded England.
Now imagine Sarah Lewis, a Welsh woman who wakes one morning to find her husband gone. She finds that all the men in this small, isolated valley are gone - left to join the resistance without a word to those left behind. When a German patrol comes to the Olchon valley, the women are resistant....more
Now imagine Sarah Lewis, a Welsh woman who wakes one morning to find her husband gone. She finds that all the men in this small, isolated valley are gone - left to join the resistance without a word to those left behind. When a German patrol comes to the Olchon valley, the women are resistant....more
A book that manages to be beautiful and deeply disturbing... well, to someone my age anyway.
At some points this was my perfect book... poetic with such a deep sense of place it reminded me of the way Hardy makes the countryside a character; well drawn characters who are neither on the side of the devil or the angels; a fast moving plot, a fantastic premise. I even forgave it for disturbing the hell out of me... I don't know if that is to do with my nationality or my age, but being born 15 years...more
At some points this was my perfect book... poetic with such a deep sense of place it reminded me of the way Hardy makes the countryside a character; well drawn characters who are neither on the side of the devil or the angels; a fast moving plot, a fantastic premise. I even forgave it for disturbing the hell out of me... I don't know if that is to do with my nationality or my age, but being born 15 years...more
Imagine a WWII scenario where the invasion of Normandy failed. Where the German army survives the Russian winter. Where England is invaded and conquered by the Nazis. Owen Sheers’ novel, “Resistance,” begins with these historical revisionings.
Set in an isolated valley in England, Sheers explores the dynamics between a German patrol and a collection of English women suddenly left alone to manage their farms. With the husbands suddenly, silently, and collectively abandoning their wives to join the...more
Set in an isolated valley in England, Sheers explores the dynamics between a German patrol and a collection of English women suddenly left alone to manage their farms. With the husbands suddenly, silently, and collectively abandoning their wives to join the...more
May 20, 2009
Eliane
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
brecon-beacons-book-group-2008
A beautifully written alternative history rooted in fact, this is the story of an isolated valley on the border of England and Wales and what could have happened had the Germans succeeded and invaded Britain in World War II.
For my book group, the book had particular relevance as we live only a few miles from the Olchon Valley, Llanthony and Longtown. The descriptions of how the women carry on working their farms through the bitter winter resonate strongly when you can see farms just like these...more
For my book group, the book had particular relevance as we live only a few miles from the Olchon Valley, Llanthony and Longtown. The descriptions of how the women carry on working their farms through the bitter winter resonate strongly when you can see farms just like these...more
On a September morning in 1944, in a remote valley in Wales, the women who farm with their husbands wake to find all the men have disappeared. The fading BBC broadcasts on the wireless warn of the approaching German army, which has all but crushed London in its wake. D-Day was a disaster and the Allies are sinking under the might of the SS and Wehrmacht forces.
A small band of German soldiers arrives in this rugged valley shortly after the Welsh men have disappeared. They remain through a brutal...more
A small band of German soldiers arrives in this rugged valley shortly after the Welsh men have disappeared. They remain through a brutal...more
Overall, I highly recommend this novel. It's set in an alternate reality in which the Nazis win WWII and occupy Great Britain. In a Welsh valley, hidden largely from the impact of war, a group of women are suddenly abandoned by their husbands overnight and forced to run their farms by themselves. That is, until a group of German soldiers occupy the village and offer their much-needed help. I think the selling point of this novel is the message that if the war had gone the other way, the world wo...more
September 1944: the women of a remote valley in Wales wake to find their husbands have disappeared in the night with neither explanation nor warning. Within weeks, a German patrol moves into the valley on some unstated mission, their commanding officer assuring the women that, contrary to reports of rape and murder by occupying forces, they will not be harmed. So begins an uneasy peace between the women reeling from their husbands’ disappearance and the battle weary patrol.
Sheers occasionally g...more
Sheers occasionally g...more
Brilliantly written, which is why it's getting four stars. At times the prose is almost achingly lovely, and I'm a sucker for that. I also deeply enjoyed the first two thirds of the novel, before it lost its way a little. It became much more about farming and somewhat squandered its premise. And of course there's then the problem of the premise itself. Many of the ideas presented here just didn't hold water at all, and for a book called resistance very little of that aspect was touched on. It wa...more
Resistance was the first novel from Welsh-based poet, Owen Sheers.
Drawing on his discoveries of a local resistance network near his home in Monmouthshire, Sheers has crafted a heart-wrenching tale which considers what might have happened during the Second World War if Germany had invaded Britain and such a resistance had been called into action.
The story is set in the remote valleys which separate Wales from England, and as winter sets in, the drama focuses on the wives and daughters who are lef...more
Drawing on his discoveries of a local resistance network near his home in Monmouthshire, Sheers has crafted a heart-wrenching tale which considers what might have happened during the Second World War if Germany had invaded Britain and such a resistance had been called into action.
The story is set in the remote valleys which separate Wales from England, and as winter sets in, the drama focuses on the wives and daughters who are lef...more
'What if...?' tales of had the Nazis invaded Britain have been done before, but this one takes a slightly different angle. Its the story of the women of a small Welsh valley who on the news that the Nazis have successfully landed in the South of England, wake to find all the men gone; presumably to be part of some sort of resistance movement.
Some of the characters are a little clichéd- there is the German officer who is an honourable man really and resents what he has to do in the Wehrmacht. But...more
Some of the characters are a little clichéd- there is the German officer who is an honourable man really and resents what he has to do in the Wehrmacht. But...more
Resistance by Owen Sheers is set in Wales in September 1944. However in this tale the Normandy landings have failed and having subdued the Russians the Germans have invaded the UK.
The women in a remote Welsh valley wake one morning to find their menfolk have left, presumably to join the resistance. Fearful of retributions for being related to "insurgents", the women tell no one outside their small community that the men have gone. They are joined in the valley by a special German Army patrol loo...more
The women in a remote Welsh valley wake one morning to find their menfolk have left, presumably to join the resistance. Fearful of retributions for being related to "insurgents", the women tell no one outside their small community that the men have gone. They are joined in the valley by a special German Army patrol loo...more
It took me a while to get through Resistance, which might explain in part why it was so difficult for me to engage fully with any of the characters or the subplots. Its premise is (of course) intriguing, but is executed in a completely unexpected way, with a narrow focus which makes the plot difficult to contextualize (unless you've already been told what the book is about by all the other reviews on Goodreads, of course.) This disconnected feeling is heightened by the shifting viewpoints, parti...more
Some wonderfully evocative language describing a valley in the Welsh border region, the farming inhabitants whose menfolk have gone off to fight as an underground cell against the Germans when Britain is overrun by Nazis, and the relationships that develop with a German patrol. Unfortunately for me Sheers doesn't really express the feelings developing between the two groups adequately, and is rather naive about the consequences of isolating the two groups through a long winter in war time.
The i...more
The i...more
First let me tell you how much I loved this book. I adored every second of it and had it not been for those weird German translations then this would have been a five star rating.
So I loved the setting, the interesting and unique characters, the pacing, the great cover, everything. So why did no one check the German sentences?!
Just one of the many possible examples:
"Güten tag, Steiner." (page 134)
Really? Just because it's German doesn't mean that you should put Umlaute in there. Don't get me sta...more
So I loved the setting, the interesting and unique characters, the pacing, the great cover, everything. So why did no one check the German sentences?!
Just one of the many possible examples:
"Güten tag, Steiner." (page 134)
Really? Just because it's German doesn't mean that you should put Umlaute in there. Don't get me sta...more
I really liked the idea for this story, but I felt that the author had a problem with telling instead of showing. Since the story takes place on a farm I found this especially tedious, and the book dragged on at certain points (I am a city girl though, I'm sure others would find sheep farming more engaging). This is not a war story, the war is a plot device to explore the unique situations and relationships that occur between the wives and their nations invaders. It seemed like a lot of historic...more
I have just finished reading this book and, in the main, enjoyed it, in part perhaps because I had the good fortune last summer to visit the very beautiful part of the England/Wales border where it is set and had walked around several of the specific locations, including Hay-on-Wye (where I first spotted the book) and Llanthony Priory.
The premise of a failed D-Day landings campaign and subsequent invasion of the UK by Germany is an intriguing one, and there were many chilling passages of the "wh...more
The premise of a failed D-Day landings campaign and subsequent invasion of the UK by Germany is an intriguing one, and there were many chilling passages of the "wh...more
I saw Owen Sheers at a poetry reading featuring Welsh authors at Busboys and Poets in DC a few months ago. His poetry is amazing, and I bought a book of poems at the time. I was recently at the library and found Resistance on "to be shelved" book cart. I enjoyed the book, which explores the alternative reality of what if the Normandy invasion had failed, and the Germans had occupied England and Wales. I don't usually like "alternative reality" books, that take historic events in a different dire...more
I was surprised to learn that Sheers bases the entire story upon historically true ideas and facts. Though Britain never was invaded by Germany, Sheers utilizes the plans that were actually made by the English and Welsh, should the invasion have ever occurred, as the foundation for his book.
Though the story has some rough patches and occasional awkward plot lines, the overall effect is brilliant. Sheers takes the image of a rough, damaging, hell-on-earth war and brings it to a quiet valley in Wa...more
Though the story has some rough patches and occasional awkward plot lines, the overall effect is brilliant. Sheers takes the image of a rough, damaging, hell-on-earth war and brings it to a quiet valley in Wa...more
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| (A lot of!) Questions after finishing this book (spoilers) | 1 | 18 | Feb 21, 2012 06:36pm |
Owen Sheers was born in Fiji in 1974 and brought up in Abergavenny, South Wales. The winner of an Eric Gregory Award and the 1999 Vogue Young Writer's Award, his first collection of poetry, The Blue Book (Seren, 2000) was short-listed for the Welsh Book of the Year and the Forward Prize Best First Collection 2001. His debut prose work The Dust Diaries (Faber, 2004), a non-fiction narrative set in...more
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