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In the dead of night, a Czech farm girl and a British soldier travel through the countryside. Izabela and prisoner of war Bill have secretly married and are on the run, with Izzy dressed as a man. The young husband and wife evade capture for as long as possible—until they are cornered by Nazi soldiers with tracking dogs.
Izzy's disguise works. The couple are assumed to be escaped British soldiers and transported to a POW camp. However, their ordeal has just begun, as they face appalling living conditions and the constant fear of Izzy's exposure. But in the midst of danger and deprivation comes hope, for the young couple are befriended by a small group of fellow prisoners. These men become their new family, willing to jeopardize their lives to save Izzy from being discovered and shot.
The Prisoner's Wife tells of an incredible risk, and of how our deepest bonds are tested in desperate times. Bill and Izzy's story is one of love and survival against the darkest odds.
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
May 26, 2020 -
Formats
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OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9780593215135
- File size: 369834 KB
- Duration: 12:50:29
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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March 9, 2020
Brookes takes inspiration from a British POW’s account of his time being held by the Nazis in this page-turning story of love and survival. In the summer of 1944, five British military prisoners from the Lamsdorf POW camp arrive under guard to assist with the harvest on a family farm in Vražné, in Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia. One of the prisoners, bombardier Bill King, catches the eye of Izzy, the family’s unmarried daughter, and they fall in love. With Bill scheduled to return to the POW camp once the work is finished, he and Izzy plot to run away and join Izzy’s father and older brother with anti-German partisans. A sympathetic priest marries the couple; then Izzy cuts her hair and dons men’s clothes to attract less attention as she and Bill set out to find the resistance. Instead, they’re captured by German troops and sent to Lamsdorf, with Izzy still posing as a man. As Soviet forces rapidly gain ground, Izzy, Bill, and the rest of the prisoners are forced to march west during the bitter winter, a journey that tests their will to survive and threatens to separate the couple. Brookes demonstrates a fine command of historical circumstances and events but skimps on character development amid the nonstop action. In a crowded field of WWII fiction, this one doesn’t stick out.
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