The Welsh Girl, Davies - C

                                               I concluded a long time ago that WW2 novels were no match for WW2 movies, as filmmakers around the world have created and continue to create fabulous films on the topic. Similarly, the actual history itself is so extraordinary and covers so much of the human experience that the novels don't seem to have the room to roam without sometimes seeming trivial. And, in the end, this book had no attraction for me. Indeed, I felt as if I knew exactly where the plot was going, not because of foreshadowing, but because it all just seems so formulaic. The two key characters are Esther, daughter of a Welsh farmer and waitress at night in the local pub, and Hans, a truly nice young German POW imprisoned in the newly-built barracks in the late summer of 1944. The first of  two worthwhile takeaways for me are the Welsh use of the local language and their hostility toward the English. One knows about the Scots' centuries-long sense of separation from the English, but I've always assumed, obviously incorrectly, that the Welsh were somewhat more incorporated into the UK. The other is the shame of surrender. The German lads had to lie in their letters home, because their families were still hopeful and didn't want to hear that their boys had surrendered.