Novels Now

Resistance
By Owen Sheers
Completed June 27, 2008

I think poets make great novelists. Joyce Carol Oates, Margaret Atwood, even Shel Silverstein all embrace a stunningly descriptive way of writing that makes their stories and characters just flow through your mind. Like his poetic counterparts, Owen Sheers used this lyrical style in his debut novel Resistance.

Resistance is an alternate history – what if the German army invaded England during World War II? In this book, Sarah Lewis woke one morning to find her husband missing. In fact, all of the men in her Welsh valley had disappeared with no note, explanation or forewarning. Another wife, Maggie, discovered a pamphlet in her barn that led them to a grave conclusion: their husbands and sons left to join the Resistance.

Then, things become more precarious when a German patrol arrived in their valley, led by Captain Albrecht Wolfram, an Oxford-trained medieval scholar who became an unlikely soldier when Germany went to war. Settled into an abandoned house, the German soldiers collectively decided to stay in this isolated area because they felt the end of the war was near. As a fierce winter dug its teeth into the valley, the men helped the women maintain their farms. While their assistance was accepted reluctantly at first, the soldiers and women formed bonds as they fought against the devastating winter.

Two forces, however, threatened their delicate coexistence. If the Gestapo discovered these women whose husbands were Resistance fighters, the women would be executed (and more than likely the German soldiers would be court marshaled and killed too). If the British Resistance discovered that the women were “collaborating” with the German soldiers, their countrymen would kill them all. Isolation could be maintained easily during the winter. But when spring arrived, the sheep had to be brought to market, cows needed mates and goods needed to be exchanged. Spring, a time of new beginnings, created an unavoidable compromise in the fate of these characters.

The story is loosely based on the existence of a real Resistance group that Britain formed during World War II. Sheers also researched life on Welsh farms during this time, resulting in an engaging historical novel (despite the alternate history). Admittedly, I found some issues with the advancement of the plot, but overall, Resistance was a compelling story with fully developed characters, vivid descriptions of Wales and heart-breaking accounts of the effect of war on men and women. If you like World War II fiction or alternate histories, then I highly recommend Resistance to you. ( )

Imagine that you go to bed one night and sleep late the next morning. Your country is embroiled in World War II and the rumors that German troops are drawing near are growing stronger every day.

Imagine that you wake up and your husband and all the other men of the village have disappeared without a word.

Imagine that Germany had successfully occupied England.

Imagine a German patrol shows up in your village and there is no one to protect you.

With World War II more than 5 decades in the past, it is hard to imagine that things could turn out any differently than they did. However, in a short section in the Afterword, author Owen Sheers tells us that for a period of time in 1940, the scenario imagined in the book Resistance was a possibility. For Sarah Lewis and her neighbors, Mary, Menna, and Maggie, it is reality.

Things do not unfold as expected though and the story is not predictable. Nazi officer Albrecht Wolfram is battle weary by the time he and his patrol reach the village in Wales. He has seen and done things that he would rather forget and he is not interested in tyrannizing the women. Instead, he is interested in peaceful coexistence. The question then becomes will outside forces allow this. We don’t get neat and tidy answers and must draw our own conclusions but the story itself is the treasure.

I found this book to be a captivating story and I was constantly caught between wondering which parts were fact and which parts were imagined. Fortunately, the author took the time to let us know at the end of the book. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading about WW II. (4/5)

He no longer thought as a soldier because he had been a soldier. He had seen too much. And now he had to choose again. Which of these men would he take? To which of them would he grant an alternative future? What that future was, he couldn’t say. -From Resistance, page 24

What if the D-Day landings had failed? What if London had fallen and Britain been occupied by Nazi forces? What if instead of an Allied victory, World War II had gone another way? These are the questions which writer Owen Sheers asks and answers in his debut novel Resistance. The novel unfolds in 1944 in a tiny Welsh valley when four women awake to find their husbands gone - no warning, no explanation except for a tattered manual which implies the men have left to become part of an organized underground resistance against the impending Nazi occupation. Maggie (an older woman with strength of heart and body), Mary (struggling to raise her teenage daughter after her son has been killed in the war), Menna (a young mother with two toddlers), and Sarah (with dreams of a future in the rolling Welsh hills) come together to help and support each other on their farms. Determined to survive until their men return, they are shocked to discover a Nazi patrol in the valley. When winter arrives earlier than expected, the fragile balance between these two groups is shaken and changed.

Resistance is a fully imagined, beautifully constructed novel about grief and survival during wartime. Sheers has won the Eric Gregory Award and the Vogue Young Writer’s Award for his first poetry collection, and the lyrical language in Resistance reminds the reader of those literary roots. As the seasons progress, bringing with them changes between the women and the Nazi soldiers, the reader is treated to graceful descriptions of the Welsh countryside with all its colors, smells, and sights. The brutality of the environment is mixed with its beauty, creating a backdrop which is perfect for the plot. Sheers builds tension between the characters gradually, revealing their motivations with the fine touch of an artist. Albrecht Wolfram, the German Captain, defies the stereotype of the Nazi soldier. Sheers shows his humanity lost in his role as soldier, and in doing so allows for sympathy and understanding. Likewise, in revealing the women’s strengths, Sheers also exposes their fears and weaknesses which creates characters of depth who are fully realized.

The story does not tie up all the ends; it is not predictable. In leaving the ending open, Sheers allows the reader to reach her own conclusions. Although some will not appreciate the subtleness of this, I found it to be the appropriate choice for the novel.

Sheers is a young writer, and he shows great promise with this debut novel. I look forward to reading more from him in the future.

Resistance is highly recommended. (4.5/5)