Book Blurb:
Heartbreaking and heartwarming, this tale of three generations of women tells of bravery, secrets, lies, family conflict and discovery: the consequences of one courageous woman's decision to join the Special Operations Executive in World War Two.
In The Glovemaker's War, a work of fiction by Katherine Williams, we are made aware of the courage and resilience of a generation of women whose stories went untold for decades after the end of World War Two.
Book Buy Link: https://geni.us/theglovemakerswar
Author Bio:
Born on the Wirral peninsula in Cheshire, England, Katherine Williams moved to Larchmont, New York in her late thirties. Now retired, she lives in rural Connecticut where she likes to cook for friends and family, garden, write and walk with her dog in the surrounding countryside. The Glovemaker's War is her debut novel.
Editorial Review:
He knew it was where she kept her glove form and glove-making supplies – the contrivances of her disguise as a courier for the Resistance. He rummaged for the rose-colored gloves that she'd made for herself and treasured so much. He pressed one against his cheek, before tucking it close to his heart in the top pocket of his jacket. Then he found the glove form and brushing his lips across the crumpled paper on which he'd written a message the night before, he pushed the noted deep inside a hollow finger of the metal mold.
Using the well-used technique of time slip, “The Glovemaker's War” immerses the reader into the secrets and intrigues of three women, all affected in one way or another by WW2. From the outset, the reader connects instantly with Georgina, a young, rich, modern-day woman bent on making her own way, of keeping her independence, and enjoying a fling now and again... until she receives a call from her much-absent mother telling her that her grandmother is sick and needs assistance in London. Georgina ends her relationship with her current love-interest, and flies off to London to reconnect with a grandmother who she has not seen for many, many years. Coming back to London affects Georgina in a very profound way... especially when her grandmother starts sharing stories about her life during WW2... and about the real history behind the lies she has told all her life.
“More of an undercover agent. It was all top secret. I worked as a courier and a radio operator. I helped transmit messages to England. I signed the Official Secret's Act. I've never told anyone about it until now.”
The story reverts back and forth as Eve tells her story. As a young woman at the outset of WW2, Eve thinks to sign up as a nurse to help out during the war effort, but she is quickly recruited into the SOE as a special agent, and sent to France as a courier and radio dispatcher... along with another young woman named Sylvie. They know that their job is dangerous, yet after their quick training, they are thrust into the thick of things near the village of Grenoble where Eve's cover is as a glovemaker, a job she knows well since she learned the skill through her family's business.
“Regret is not a useful emotion. It can be destructive – I learned that early on. I'll always feel immense sadness at the way things turned out, so knowing that I did the right thing being a secret agent is something which I'll always cling onto. My generation all sacrificed something, but we did it to help save all those poor people who lost everything; some people just gave up more than others.”
“That's so tragic, especially as you've had no one to share your pain with all these years. You're amazing – so brave. Did you at least get some therapy from a counsellor when you came home?” Georgina asked.
“No, dear. We all just got on with our lives.”
Again and again, Eve and Sylvie take risks by transferring messages about ammunition drops, about possible German infiltration and movements, and helping stranded soldiers and Jews escape. Many such women were recruited into the Special Operations Executive during the war, and many were required to sign 'secrecy vows' so as to protect themselves, and others from discovery by the Germans. This story is Eve's story, of her bravery in the midst of conflict, and yet how her lies affected her relationship with her own daughter, Georgina's mother Angela, since she never revealed the true nature of her encounter with Angela's father, Luc. Because of this, Angela remains aloof and insensitive to her mother's illness, even scoffing when Georgina tries to tell her of her grandmother's actual history.
Yet, Eve's story affects Georgina more than she realizes, especially when faced with her own 'secret', so much so that she discovers the appeal of finding the love of your life... and not only that, but finding her grandmother's love before it is too late. None of them know if Luc is still alive, but with the help of an ancestry-website owner, Georgina discovers there is more to Luc's story than any of them imagined. And the key has remained hidden inside Eve's glove-making mold for decades...
Listening to her grandmother, Georgina suddenly understood the steeliness of her character, the shifting of gears the old woman had perfected when she needed to avoid confronting her past. She'd witnessed it several times over the weeks she'd spent with her. She realized that not only was it a coping mechanism, but it was the backbone of her disappearing generation, the courage to move forward in adversity, pretending that everything was all right when it wasn't. Her grandmother epitomized the expression “stiff upper lip” that she'd often heard about but, being half American and her mother's daughter, had never signed up for.
“The Glovemaker's War” is a lovely historical WW2 read with very connective human emotions wrapped around family, forgiveness, love, pain, devastation, struggles, war, acceptance, and more. You get a true sense of why so many of that generation forged through their lives with 'stiff upper lips', getting on with their lives, and how the many secrets of that generation set the stage for the rebelliousness of the next, and the next... For a quick read, yet enjoyable one, this is a good one to escape into WW2 history and get a glimpse at the bravery and strength of so many young women fighting in their own way during that terrible time period in history.
*****
“The Glovemaker's War” by Katherine Williams receives four stars from The Historical Fiction Company