February 2, 2021

The Girl From the Channel Islands by Jenny Lecoat #BlogTour

Genre/Categories: Historical Fiction, WWII, Jewish, Channel Islands

*This post contains Amazon affiliate links.

Welcome to my stop on the Blog Tour for Jenny Lecoat’s the Girl From the Channel Islands. Thank you for the invitation Justine Sha!

Thank you #Netgalley #Harlequinn for my complimentary e arc of #TheGirlFromTheChannelIslands upon my request. All opinions are my own.

***This post contains Amazon affiliate links.

My Summary:

In June of 1940, Hitler’s army takes possession of the Channel Islands. Cut off from all help, the residents grow increasingly desperate. Hedy, a young Jewish girl from Vienna, is trapped on Jersey with no escape. In desperation, Hedy begins to work for the Germans as a translator, and she meets a sympathetic German officer (although he doesn’t know the whole truth). As Hedy’s life is in more danger every day, she decides on a dangerous course of action in an attempt to save herself from deportation to a concentration camp.

My Thoughts:

Writing: The Girl From the Channel Islands is an engaging and unputdownable read. The island and time period are vividly described, and I felt like I was living there. Lecoat builds tension and suspense well as the story unfolds. I can’t say more about the plot in order to avoid spoilers.

Characters: I love stories about real, ordinary people living their one amazing life. This story features three real-life people: Hedy (Jewish, came to Jersey to escape Vienna, worked as a translator), a German soldier (a love interest), and Dorothea (an acquaintance, an unsung hero)……all the other details of the story are imagined. All the characters are realistic and mostly likable. I wish that quirky Dorothea had been a bit more developed…I wonder what motivated her to take the risks she did.

Themes: Friendship, bravery, taking risks, determination, loyalty, forbidden romance, and survival.

I Wish: At the end of the story, I wish more had been said about their lives. For example in 2016, Dorothea was posthumously awarded the prestigious “Righteous Among Nations” award (to convey the gratitude of the State of Israel and the Jewish people to those who took great risks to save Jews during the Holocaust). Hedwig “Hedy” Bercu’s children were also there to give thanks to their mother’s savior. Dorothea Le Brocq is an unsung hero.

Recommended: I highly recommend The Girl From the Channel Islands for fans of engaging and well-told WWII historical fiction, for readers interested in the Channel Islands, for those who appreciate stories of strong women, and for book clubs.

My Rating:  5 Stars

The Girl From the Channel Islands Information Here

Meet the Author, Jenny Lecoat

Born in Jersey, Channel Islands, Jenny Lecoat’s parents were raised under German Occupation, and both families were involved in resistance activity. Lecoat moved to England aged 18, where, following a drama degree, she spent a decade on the alternative comedy circuit as a feminist stand-up. She was nominated for a prestigious Perrier Award in 1986. She also wrote for newspapers and women’s magazines (Cosmopolitan, Observer) and presented TV and radio shows, before focusing on screenwriting from sitcom (Birds of a Feather, Sometime Never) to sketch shows (The Catherine Tate Show).

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QOTD:

Is The Girl From the Channel Islands on your TBR or have you read it?

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Unless explicitly stated that they are free, all books that I review have been purchased by me or borrowed from the library.

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