I really enjoyed this book. Set during the Second World War, Connie joins the Women’s Timber Core, after losing her family during an air raid. A City girl, Connie finds herself in a remote forest, fragile and hiding a secret, here she meets Seppe , an Italian prisoner of war, and together they both embark on a new life, and friendship trying to heal their troubled lives.
I really liked reading about this core of the women’s war effort, as I hadn’t realised there was such a thing, and the story is not just a run of the mill love story. Connie shows how women cope in adversity, needing independence, and trying to finding her way.
Seppe, is a damaged soul, fragile and venerable, haunted by his own problems, and the two somehow make sense of their lives in different ways.
I loved all the characters, they were sympathetic, but not pathetic, and although their problems seem insurmountable they each in their own way find a freedom of sorts. A lovely, thoughtful and absorbing read. Highly recommended.