Customer Reviews
Pleasant read - By: Wren, 06 Aug 2008 
This was a nice pleasant read, but that's it..... just nice. I liked the characters & it was nice to read the effects of WW2 from another perspective. Again, like other reviewers I found the book description on the back cover slightly misleading. I think the stories of the 3 main characters could have been meshed more together. Would have liked more scenes with Karsten & Esther.
It was a nicely told story with characters you could believe in.
Sad and poignant - By: H. Lacroix, 03 Aug 2008 
I found the novel slow-moving at first & it never reallly picked up speed, rather, I became more & more in tune with the slow progress of the narrative. I appreciated the novel more & more as I read it. It is not to be read if one feels melancholy or depressed as it would not cheer you up, but there is an undeniable beauty to the writing & real feeling so that we come to care a lot about the characters, especiallly ,as far as I am concerned, about Karsten, the young German who has surrendered so as not to be burnt alive in his bunker & who feels guilt & shame because he survived & in so doing lost his honour.I liked the character of Esther as well, the way her life evolves around the secret she has to keep, & I found her story convincing. The way once she is trapped in her lies, she goes in deeper & deeper seems true to life. The only part I felt hard to credit was her rape. I just can't imagine how any girl, even a young Welsh girl in the 40's, could kiss a soldier for a whole month, be his sweetheart, then consent to go alone with him, at night, somewhere she doesn't know & expect him not to take advantage of the situation. I can't believe that someone brought up on a farm ,who knows a lot about the facts of life would have been naive enough to think for one moment that her honour would be safe with a man of whom she knew absolutely nothing.
I also wish there had been more scenes between Esther & Karsten, as they were reallly well-written, in fact I wish the novel didn't finish as it does, but I suppose that if it were otherwise it would have been romantic & would have lost some of its appeal.
A good, melancholy read that stays with you after you have finished.
This girl has shortcomings - By: Mr. T. Harvey, 28 Jul 2008 
The main plot of this book concentrates on Esther, the Welsh girl of the title, & her relationships with two men, a sapper & a German POW, during the last year of the Second World War. Set in North Wales, much of the book's action is centred on a local pub, where nationalistic pride is paramount & where the English are as much the enemy as the Germans. A weak subsidiary plot deals with the efforts of the authorities in the person of a Mr Rotherham to interrogate Rudolf Hess, then held captive in the UK. Davies should have concentrated on the main story of the Welsh girl, as this subsidiary plot adds nothing to the book as a whole. I also think the author tries to cover too many themes - nationalism, patriotism,the notion of duty, the concealment of self - which has the effect of them alll being treated superficiallly. There is some impressive writing, the scene describing soldiers under fire being a good example, but the author's literary style has the effect of distancing the reader from the characters & the action. He would have done well to write more from his heart & less from his head.
A good holiday read ... but ... - By: hw, 27 Jul 2008 It's Snowdonia in the months following D-Day & everyone, it seems, has a secret.
The Welsh-speaking population of the local village has been supplemented by influxes of German POWs, English (sic) soldiers & evacuees (adults & children) from Liverpool & London. Peter Ho Davies uses this scenario to explore ideas of identity, place & belonging.
This is a well crafted novel that sticks closely to its major themes. The main characters, Kirsten the POW & Rotherham, a British intelligence officer of German background, are empatheticallly drawn. However, the barmaid Esther (the Welsh girl of the title) fails to convince as a 17-year old living in the 1940s. The failure of the UK publishers to remove some glaring Americanisms adds to the sense that this novel is set in somebody's idea of wartime Britain.
Whilst the quality of the writing saves the novel from descending into soapdom, there are perhaps a few too many secrets & a subplot involving Rudolf Hess sits awkwardly beside the main narrative.
Good enough to pass as an unchalllenging holiday read - especiallly if you're heading for Snowdonia.
Mixed feelings! - By: Hendre, 25 Jul 2008 I agree with many of the comments on this book. It's mostly entertaining, with well-drawn characters & a vivid portrayal of Welsh village life & attitudes.
Two niggling points: I am irritated by the use of the present tense, which has become so popular with novelists & in radio productions; it is now almost the default narrative mode. And, the occasional bits in Welsh are not accurate, which is unaccountable.
