As the shadow of World War II creeps toward the Channel Islands, Vivienne de la Mare struggles to raise her two daughters and care for her aging mother-in-law while her husband is away at the front. Never quite at home on Guernsey and long unhappy in her marriage, she must put on a brave face, learning to make do with less and less as the occupying German forces claim the island's dwindling resources for themselves. She never expects to fall in love with one of the German soldiers living next door.
Seasoned author Leroy (Postcards from Berlin; Yes, My Darling Daughter) tells Vivienne's story in exquisite first-person prose, capturing the details of the changing seasons on Guernsey, the daily rhythms of life under the Occupation and the tender, fierce love of a mother for her daughters. Teenage Blanche, longing for independence, and little Millie, more perceptive than anyone knows, face the hardships of war bravely--sometimes more bravely than their mother. But when Millie uncovers a dark secret, Vivienne must decide whether she is willing to risk her family's safety for a stranger--and how much she really trusts the man she has come to love.
The Soldier's Wife might seem a misnomer--while Vivienne is married to a soldier, she must navigate the war as an independent woman. For the first time in her life, all her decisions fall on her own shoulders, and she and her daughters must decide whom to love, whom to trust and how to survive. But then you realize that Leroy is showing us that this independence, determination and, yes, solitude, is what it actually means to be "the soldier's wife." --Katie Noah Gibson, blogger at Cakes, Tea and Dreams