From Amazon:

In 1944, a German Jewish refugee is sent to Wales to interview Rudolf Hess; in Snowdonia, a seventeen-year-old girl, the daughter of a fiercely nationalistic shepherd, dreams of the bright lights of an English city; and in a nearby POW camp, a German soldier struggles to reconcile his surrender with his sense of honour. As their lives intersect, all three will come to question where they belong and where their loyalties lie.
Peter Ho Davies's thought-provoking and profoundly moving first novel traces a perilous wartime romance as it explores the bonds of love and duty that hold us to family, country, and ultimately our fellow man. Vividly rooted in history and landscape, THE WELSH GIRL reminds us anew of the pervasive presence of the past, and the startling intimacy of the foreign.
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I enjoyed this WWII story in a slightly different setting in Wales. It is really beautifully written with intense themes.

Bookray participants:

- greenbadger (UK to Int'l)
- penelopewanders (Switzerland to Europe)
- kiki66 (Germany to Int'l) ----< book is here
- sedna5213 (Germany to Int'l)
- Bookgirrl (Canada to Int'l)
- susanna_koh (Malaysia to Int'l)
- Lindasaurus (Austria to Europe)
- Clairby11xxx (UK to UK or Europe)

Sent to greenbadger, who is first in this bookray.

The book has arrived, thank you very much!

Wartime in Wales, and loyalties are torn. The Welsh hate the English building a POW camp there as much as the Germans. Rotherham, with a Jewish father, has fled Germany and is posted to Wales to interview Hess. Karsten surrenders on D-Day to save a young lad in his bunker, but the shame of having surrendered is hard to live with. Esther the barmaid is walking out with one of the English soldiers, but what she longs for is really escape from her restricted village life. This is a wonderful book, making you question, what is courage, what is patriotism? Thoroughly recommended.

Sent to penelopewanders, the next in the ray. Enjoy!

This has now arrived safely in the Swiss Alps, rolling in behind a number of other rings which will most likely be tackled during the up-coming holidays. Thanks so much for making this book available, and thank you, Greenbadger, for sending (and the lovely card).

This is here as a ring, and as usual I quite forgot what it was going to be about by the time it arrived and I began reading it.
I am always fascinated by WWII stories, and it was interesting to get this slant on it. I did prefer the parts with Esther and those with Karsten, and felt the sections about "Steiner" were a bit thin (half way or even further through I was telling someone about it and could not remember the third character, which is pretty telling, I think). Interesting reflections on cowardice, nationalism, etc. It was a good read, but there was a lack of resolution really, I thought.

This now leaves France and heads up to Germany. Enjoy!

This book arrived a few days ago!
Already started reading..
Thanks for sending, penelopewanders!

Due to a detachment of the retina and a following (emergency) operation I am not allowed to read.. which is kind of a maximum penalty for me.
So it'll take probably another four weeks till I may be able to read the Welsh Girl. If this is too long please tell me, I'll send the book on unread.

Edit: I am going to send this book to the next reader - unread - since I am still not able to read longer..

The book arrived safely in Berlin! Thanks a lot for sending it over kiki66. Wishing you a fast and successful recovery!

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An interesting read for sure and quite different to the WWII stories I've read before.

The book is on its way to Bookgirrl now.

"The Welsh Girl" has arrived in Canada! Thanks sedna5213, I recently read a wonderful book called "Good Night, Mr. Tom" - another WW2 story. (Picked up at the Oslo Bookcrossing Convention in April.) On a personal note, my step-Father was evacuated to Wales during WW2 from London, and in 1971, we visited the farm where he was billeted.

I enjoyed this book very much. I thought the character development was really good - each one was believable. 'Interesting to see WW2 from a Welsh perspective, as I've read (and heard from family) so often about WW2 from a Canadian or English perspective. On to the next person - susanna_koh in Malaysia.