Member Reviews
I had never heard of lumberjills before reading this book and I enjoyed the forest setting. The character of Connie grew on me as did the whole book. At first I found the moving about in time distracting and unnecessary- why have the dance as the first scene and then go back a few months, I didn't feel it added to the story. But after a reserved start I became immersed and wanted Connie and Seppe to make it. A really good read, not the usual wartime romance.
I'd like to start by saying that the writing in the book is what really impressed me and made me read the parts of the book which I'd rather skip so kudos to the author for that! I loved the fact that both the characters made me feel conflicting emotions regarding them time and time again - I felt sympathetic towards them but at the same time there were instances when I really didn't like them and yet again I'd go back to loving them! All signs pointing to just how well-written this was.
The setting (countryside) for this novel was diverse in terms of the fact that I've hardly come across historical fiction especially WW2 novels set outside of the major cities so that as well as the diverse characters were refreshing to read and a great addition to the novel as a whole.
However, the alternating povs didn't really work for me - they didn't add anything to the plot and were practically fillers for the story to progress. Neither did the structure or the editing of the book - this novel could've been shorter and amazing but sadly it wasn't!
An unusual take on the WWII theme in that this novel concentrates on life at home - the devastation caused by the bombing, the prisoners of war who were housed in Britain and, in particular, the role of women.
The two main characters are traumatised by different events, Connie has lost her family during the mass bombardment of Coventry and Seppe by a combination of childhood abuse, a growing abhorrence of war and the fascist regime which took him into it. When Connie starts working for the Women's Timber Corp she finds an outlet for her grief whilst Seppe finds a freedom he has never experienced before, despite being in an Italian prisoner of war camp.
The friendship between these two, thrown together in such difficult times, is beautifully told by the author. What I enjoyed most though was the insight into the work and lives of ordinary men and women and their contribution to the war effort, but also the horrific impact of war on all caught up in it, on every side.
This is a heart warming, poignant story which I really enjoyed and I will certainly be looking forward to more from this author.
My thanks to Netgalley for this copy.
I'd like to start by saying that although I'm only giving this a 2 star ranking, my issue isn't with the writing - I just felt that the story lagged a little and could have been edited and structured better.
WWII Gloucester, England. Connie is young and alone and finds herself in the Women's Timber Corps, felling tress for the war effort (she joined the Women's Timber Corps). While there she meets Seppe, and Italian POW who ends up helping her cut down trees. Together, they begin to come to term with their pasts, and start to think about the future.
Told through alternating points of view, this story shifted from past to present, but not very seamlessly. I also felt that the character of Fredo (another POW who terrorized Seppe) wasn't necessary. Randomly we started to get a third narrator, Amos and his son Billy ... which didn't really move Connie and Seppe's story forward.
Perhaps if the book had been broken up into different parts, with different characters narrating their own part of the book, I would have felt that it was more of a whole unit, rather than bits and pieces put together.
A very strong ending, had the rest of the book been as well paced and structured I think this would have increased my enjoyment of it.
I ended up not fully invested in this story. It's an interesting idea and I think that others will enjoy it, but it was not for me.
Connie was brought up in Coventry, not academic, she found work in a factory as war descended on Britain. After a late night of romance with a GI Connie returns to the family home to find that it has been destroyed by a Luftwaffe raid and all her family killed. She enrols in the land army but finds herself pregnant and ends up in the Forest of Dean as a 'lumberjill'. Connie finds support from Joyce, her neighbour and eventually from Amos, the man who lives in the cottage to where she is billeted. Also Connie meets Seppe, an Italian prisoner of war who is the reluctant son of a fascist bully. Together they fell trees, start to raise Connie's baby son and begin a relationship.
Apart from shedding more light on the hard work undertaken by women during World War II, this is basically the story of two people who have struggled to fit in with the society that they were born into. Connie is brusque, Seppe gentle but together they work. There is a real thread of love for the forest and the way of life within it which holds this book together.
It’s springtime 1944 and two lonely people find themselves in the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire, both have already suffered during the war years and now, amongst the closed community of Foresters, they learn new skills while they face the next hurdle in their journey of life.
I knew as soon as I heard about this book that I wanted to read it because it is set in the Forest of Dean, the place where I grew up and in the World War II time period which is of huge interest to me, especially when it focusses on the changing role of women. Sarah Franklin surpassed my expectations weaving a story about a Lumberjill alongside that of an Italian POW.
Connie Granger hails from Coventry until the war her life was going along predictable lines, but this is a young woman who wanted more than working in the factory until she met a man and got married. Connie wants to see the world and when the Americans come to the UK there is nothing she likes more than to don her pretty dress and dance with them. Maybe one of these young men could be her ticket to seeing more than Coventry, more than helping her mother out with her younger siblings and more than the life she sees stretching before her on a path strewn with a generation of expectations. Connie veers off the path and has joined the Timbre Corps and has been sent to the Forest of Dean for her training.
The true woman finds her greatest joy in life in building up a ‘happy home for her husband and children’.
Advertisement, Dean Forest Mercury, 7th April 1944
Nearby Seppe is contemplating his fate in a truck transporting him to the POW camp at the top of a hill. Seppe carves wood, he is good with his hands and he’s relieved he has been captured. This was one young man who was fighting a war that he doesn’t believe in but that just means he also feels apart from many of his fellow prisoners some of whom hail from the same small town he does, a place where his father doesn’t just rule his family with a sharp tongue and an even worse bite; a whole community reveres the man.
So our two main protagonists have had a tough time with the causes not just created by the war when they are put to work in the Forest to clear the timber to keep up with the quotas demanded by the Ministry of War and we witness the struggle as Seppe and Connie make life-changing decisions.
The strength in this book is not just the accurate portrayal of a community one that even when I lived their in the 80s was distinctly separate from those that surround it, at a time when for those living there leaving the Forest was a big deal, but also in the brilliant characters Sarah Franklin has created. Every character is special, these lifelike people take in not just Connie and Seppe, but the whole supporting cast from Amos whose house Connie lives in, a house where she sleeps in his son’s bed while Billy is off fighting his own war, to Joyce the next door neighbour who has a heart of gold but is no pushover, all are real people with characteristics that reminded me of the older generation of Foresters that I grew up amongst. They also give depth to a story that is both emotional and yet speaks of a generation for whom duty was threaded through their bodies despite what their hearts yearned for.
With letters home from Billy and excerpts from the paper lightly scattered in between the, at times, heart-wrenching story, there was simply so much to savour and enjoy in this historical novel.
I'd like to say a huge thank you to Bonnier Zaffre for an ARC of this wonderful tale that took me back to my roots (pun fully intended) and to Sarah Franklin who made me almost homesick for a place that I detested as I grew up amongst the trees and the customs. You made me recall the inevitable Dean Forest Mercury which confirmed just how little in the way of excitement was to be had and yet now, with older and wiser eyes I see the comfort in a world that was almost untouched by events outside it while the community within protected each other.
Shelter by Sarah Franklin
History is not always kind and neither is life. Families can be difficult, abusive, mean, loving or lost and in this story both Connie and Seppe had families that impacted them greatly.
Seppe is an Italian prisoner of war that is sent to England where he becomes involved in the timber trade. While there he meets Connie, a woman that has moved from pillar to post working in a factory, on a farm and finally as a lumberjill during WWII. She and he find common ground but he wants much more from her than she does from him. There are many aspects of the area and the forest that are brilliantly presented along with supporting characters that were a delight to spend time with. I can see this becoming a series in the future should the author decide to go in that direction.
I found Connie to be a woman that did not “feel” as much as I would like for her to have. She seemed detached and selfish and hedonistic but also very lost. I could not really understand her and am not sure I have ever encountered anyone like her. Trying to figure her out was an interesting challenge. I did like Seppe and wished him a good life. It was easier to like him and want the best for him in the future.
I found the information about the lumberjills intriguing and am glad that I had the opportunity to learn more about them and this time in the past as well as what they contributed to the war.
If this is going to be continued in another book then I would like to find out more about Billy, the Italians who remained behind, Joe and just how Connie and Seppe end up eventually. I found the ending a bit abrupt and would have liked to have an epilogue or at least what happens by the end of the day. IF there is a book to follow then it should definitely pick up right there.
Thank you to NetGalley and Bonnier Zaffre for the ARC – This is my honest review.
4 Stars
When I first saw the publicity for Shelter on social media I was instantly drawn to it. Not only because of its synopsis but also for more personal reasons which I will talk about at the end of the review.
The novel concerns a handful of people and their connection to each other because of the war and the forest. The main character is Connie. Grieving and suffering the consequences of an ill-fated night out in her home town of Coventry she accepts a position with the timber corps in Gloucestershire. There she meets Seppe, Amos, Joyce and Frank and starts to rebuild her life.
Shelter is an incredible book to read. I’m ashamed that I know nothing about Italy’s war but the author has peaked my interest and I am determined to find out more. I loved Seppe’s character alongside that of the three locals. Amos, the stubborn widower who misses his son fighting in the war, Joyce and Frank the childless couple who had so much love to give. And then there was Connie, who some could dislike. She could be selfish and appear unloving but I thought a lot of the way she behaved was due to guilt. I cringed at times with the way she treated Seppe. Even though he felt he was a coward, the way he was with her and Fredo, the camp bully was heroic.
I don’t want to say much about the storyline but the author does an incredible job of showing the way WW2 was fought in a different way. Yes, cities and soldiers do feature but only briefly. This is all about the foresters and how important and unnoticed their role was.
And now the personal reasons. My maternal Grandmother was a Lumber Jill. I struggle to put the image of the tiny, stubborn elderly lady doing a job like the one that Connie did. A reminder that she would have once been a young incredibly resilient woman and I will never forget how proud she was to receive her belated medal
This book tended to jump about a little too much, difficult follow story.
Wow .. what a debut novel! Accomplished writing at it's best - plenty going on, several people's lives intertwined and an uncertain future, all beautifully brought together by Sarah Franklin.
This is the story of life in the forest during the second World War, when the demand for wood was sky rocketing. With the majority of men away to war, it was necessary to introduce women - known as lumberjills - to keep up with the orders. Although I have heard of lumberjills, this is the first I have read about their daily duties and there is lots of fantastic detail to be had here. Add in the occupants of forest homes, a young Londoner who lost her entire family to the war, and an Italian pow who is happy that his war is over and you get a diverse mix of people who burst into each others' lives and have to cope with all that is thrown at them.
This is a very engaging read with tough times and tender moments. It is a book I have enjoyed immensely and one which I have no hesitation in recommending to other readers who love a well-written saga.
I received an arc via NetGalley in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.
This story is told from the point of view of a young woman during the bombings of London during WW2.
She starts out working in a factory to help the war effort and then, after losing her family, she is moved to the woods to help with the cutting down of trees.
She’s a strong character and the story moves along at a good pace. Mixed in are POW from Italy and locals.
It’s a nice tale with a little romance mixed in and enjoyable to read as it’s well written.
Fatima
Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of the book to review
The somewhat unexpected behaviour of the characters in this story are what I enjoyed. I slowly began to fall in love with Joe, Seppe, Amos, Joyce and Frank. I felt sympathy for Connie and her situation during wartime, which would've been very difficult for the strongest of people -- a category to which I think she belongs -- even if her actions did sometimes seem shocking! The ending was good; it left me wanting to know what happened next. This book stirred in me a protectiveness for family and vulnerable people; another category that most of the characters belong to.
Shelter is a wonderful book that transports you back to WW2..I live near The Forest of Dean so I was very interested in the history ,I had no idea there were such a thing as lumber jills .I really enjoyed the story and loved the characters though Connie made me cross at times !! I felt like I knew them .This is a story of War of dreadful loss ,love and finally realizing that home is where the heart is .Brilliant .
First I thought it was a WW2 story, then I thought it was a romance, then I thought it was a story about the power of motherhood and then I thought it was a book specifically designed to toy with my delicate emotions. Sarah Franklin’s Shelter is all this and more.
I was drawn to this title mostly because I’m fascinated by the way women worked during the second world war. There’s that wonderful photo of the Queen when she was fixing Jeeps during wartime – it’s the best picture of the Queen. If you’re looking to find out more about Lumberjills then I wouldn’t say this is an informative book, the setting is not written to educate but rather to set up the unlikely meeting of these various characters. Nevertheless, as an introduction to what I might discover if I looked further into it, this was pretty cool.
Let’s talk about characters shall we? Connie, our main female character is fascinating to me. Her struggles with what she wants to get out of life and how she deals with them are possibly the most heart wrenching element in the whole book. This is perhaps the strongest element of this title, so many books written about women in wartime seek either to totally idealise them into amazing pin curled hard working perfect mothers pining nobly for their husbands, alternatively they are hardworking women who abscond all traditionally ‘feminine’ traits in favour of the new opportunities which wartime affords them. Franklin has managed to meld these two extremes into a character who is actually believable and though she is far from perfect, you come to love her all the same. It feels very like Austen’s Emma at times, in that you want to reach in through the pages, give her a hug and tell her to stop making such silly decisions.
Seppe, by contrast, is an Italian prisoner of war housed in a camp nearby to where Connie is staying. These two are similar in that both of them are searching for a place where they feel they belong. Seppe is perhaps slightly less ‘believable’ than Connie at times, maybe I just don’t believe in men as lovely as Seppe *sigh*.
A whole host of supporting characters: Amos, Joyce, and Frank to name a few, make for a delightful read. The love of these characters is the real constant in this title which has a tendency to put the reader through an emotional ringer every five minutes.
This book was a delightful and moving story of the struggles of losing ones identity and having to find it in unfamiliar places with unlikely individuals. It speaks of permanence (and a lack of it) in a way that makes this girl away from home feel a little teary.
One of the most enjoyable things about this book is that for the majority of the time I genuinely couldn’t work out how it was going to end. Since pretty much everything I’ve been reading recently has been decipherable by around the halfway mark it was phenomenal to have a book that actually surprised me. Franklin’s writing is unpredictable but in the best possible way. You won’t be bored reading Shelter.
So while I might have wanted a little bit more ‘badass lady lumberjacks’ I think this was an amazing read. Not my usual fantastical fare but all the same – well worth my time.
By the way: I received a digital ARC copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
A lovely romance novel set in the stunning landscape of the forest of Dean.
Interesting plot ,a good read could not put the book down as I wanted to find out the ending.
I thought that the character of Connie seemed a bit hard and her approach to seppe not knowing what she wanted in life thinking that the grass was greener on the other side.
Seppe character gradually grows from someone weak to a new,stronger Seppe.
Some parts of the book leaves a lot for the reader to imagine especially Seppes family I think that more information was needed to fully understand his search for belonging somewhere.
Last part seemed a bit rushed for me but after saying that a second book would be appreaciated to carry on with what happens to them all.
Although this seems such a light read it really has a lot fo depth.
Connie is like many munitions girls during WWII she dreams of dances andhaving a good time, with ahope of becoming a GI bride. The Coventry blitz changes all that.
As a city girl she washes up in the heart of the country but discovers a talent for tree-felling. Before she was prepared there are others to consider and make demands on her, preventing her fast gettaway tocity glamour.
Meanwhile, Seppe anItalion POW hasvery different problems and hearaches to endure but they both become swept into the caring family of lonely ld farmer and warm-hearted neighbour. Wonderful though this is Xonnie still has the urge to strive for a grass she feels will be greener.
This book takes you with the very believable characters anddescribes the glorious countryside (and less glorious chilblains) which become part of their life.
I had not read the author before so was impressed by her scholarship which she deftly uses to fill-out mundane details of life for women in that period. Casually mentioning rationing andways it is circumvented and the strangeness when station name signs return convey a feel for the time so well.
It is very unpredictable and it io nice to still be surprised right tothe last chapter.
She's onmy author list now!
Shelter by Sarah Franklin is not just another tragic war story, it is more a story about strong bonds that can form in a community and about unexpectedly finding somewhere you can call home. The only downside was that I felt it had ended a bit too abruptly but as my disappointment was a sign I really enjoyed this book I can’t complain too much.
In Spring 1944 Connie arrives in the Forest of Dean fleeing from the devastating losses she faced in Coventry and carrying a massive secret.
Around the same time Seppe arrives at a camp for Italian prisoners of war. In order to escape a face from the past he ends up working alongside Connie in her job as a ‘lumberjill.’
Shelter describes the consequences of this meeting, how it feels to start again when everything you know is lost, and the different definitions of family.
Connie is unused to life in the countryside after having spent her early years living in Coventry. She gets scared by the sheep roaming around freely and frequent creeping and scratching noises she can hear in the night.
The book begins with Connie getting ready for a dance and thinking back to the frequent dances she used to attend when she was living in Coventry.
“Invincible, that’s what they’d been. But then, before they’d even known what they had, it was shattered.”
At this early stage in the book Sarah Franklin keeps us in the dark as to the reasons why Connie left Coventry and what has caused her to leave behind the fun-loving and carefree side of her nature.
Connie is adamant that she is not going to move on from her placement as a ‘lumberjill’, it really matters to her that she doesn’t get moved on to another placement. To her surprise she takes to felling trees and excels at it.
Whilst working in the forest Connie is staying with a prickly man named Amos. Amos turned out to be my favourite character in this book, he reminded me very much of Mr Tom from Goodnight Mr Tom. Despite being initially stoic and standoffish, Amos will do anything for friends and family.
Seppe is an Italian prisoner of war and is on his way to Camp 61 in the Forest of Dean when he is first introduced to the reader. Seppe feels out of place among his fellow prisoners as he had been fighting for a cause he abhorred and secretly feels relief that he no longer has to pretend to believe.
“Overlaying the nausea now, overlaying too, the anxiety of what may lay ahead, was dishonourable relief that they were truly done with fighting…it made him a bad patriot, but he’d been a bad patriot for a long time.”
Seppe’s upbringing has bred in him the ability to sense danger and he is pleasantly surprised when he realises that the camp is a nice place and the guards are fairly friendly and relaxed with the prisoners.
Seppe’s sense of safety is threatened when a face from his past shows up and he ends up seeking refuge by convincing Connie’s boss to let him help fell trees.
Connie’s boss Frank has a real passion for the forest and is pleasantly surprised by the effort Connie and Seppe make in order to meet his quota. Frank’s character is another character that I really took to, not least because of his dedication to preserving the forest.
“Now you listen to me, my girls. Don’t go thinking that forestry’s easy work, or that every tree’s the same…This is more than just war work. This forest do matter more than any of us.”
Frank and his wife, Joyce, are both simple and uncomplicated characters. Each one provides friendship for both Connie and Seppe and a sense that this may be a place they could call home.
When I started reading Shelter I wasn’t expecting to find a book that would stay with me after reading it but Sarah Franklin’s writing style and character development is such that I would be surprised if there are many readers that don’t make a space for it on their bookshelf.
Thank you to Netgalley and Bonnier Zaffre for the free e-copy of this book in return for an honest review.
I found this hard to believe that this is Sarah Franklin’s debut novel. It’s really well written and the relationships between the characters are beautifully crafted.
Its 1944 and factory girl Connie is living the single life in Coventry during the blitz. One night her life crashes down on her and she takes the drastic step to move to the Forest of Dean to become a ‘lumbjill’.
At first the feisty Connie finds it hard to settle down, but gradually she makes a real go of it, enjoying her work and life. Through her we learn all about the Forest of Dean and the ins and outs of being a lumberjack, or in Connie’s case a ‘lumberjill’.
The introduction of the Italian POWs and the tensions within the Italians in the POW camp are well researched. Tensions between Northern and Southern Italians are an often forgotten part of European history.
However, Connie is feisty but also incredibly selfish and at times she is very unlikeable. Some of her choices you find yourself thinking – No?? What are you doing?
But this just adds to the read and makes it a more interesting story. The other characters Amos, Frank and Joyce bring warmth to the story, and Seppe (the Italian POW) brings a humanity to Connie’s selfishness.
This is a well-deserved 4 stars and am looking forward to Sarah’s next book.