What is 'A Book for Wales'?
A Book for Wales is an event tied into the Welsh Year of Reading, which is running throughout 2008. Many cities have run successful One City One Book events, encouraging people from all walks of life to read and discuss the same book over the same week or month. A Book for Wales is the first time this has been tried across a whole country.
A Book for Wales is supported by the Welsh Books Council, Academi, local libraries and bookshops across Wales and publisher Faber and Faber.
A Book for Wales is supported by the Welsh Books Council, Academi, local libraries and bookshops across Wales and publisher Faber and Faber.
Owen Sheers events in Wales in September
Owen will be headlining four major events in Wales in September. He'll be reading as well as answering questions and encouraging discussion and debate about the book and your reactions to it.
The Events:
Saturday 6th September – Wrexham, Llangollen Library
2pm, Y Capel, 19 - 21 Castle Street, Llangollen, LL20 8NY.
Call 01978 869600 for tickets and more information.
Friday 12th September - Abergavenny, The Priory Centre
7.30-8.30pm, The Priory Centre, St. Marys Church, Monk St, Abergavenny, Gwent NP7 5ND.
Call 01873 735980 for tickets and more information.
Saturday 13th September – Cardiff, Canton Library
Canton Library 2.30pm, Library Street, Canton, Cardiff CF5 1QD
Call 029 2022 9935 for tickets and more information.
Saturday 20th September – Carmarthen Library.
Carmarthen Library, 11.00am Carmarthen Library St. Peter's Street, Carmarthen SA31 1LN
Call 01267 224824 for tickets and more information.
The Events:
Saturday 6th September – Wrexham, Llangollen Library
2pm, Y Capel, 19 - 21 Castle Street, Llangollen, LL20 8NY.
Call 01978 869600 for tickets and more information.
Friday 12th September - Abergavenny, The Priory Centre
7.30-8.30pm, The Priory Centre, St. Marys Church, Monk St, Abergavenny, Gwent NP7 5ND.
Call 01873 735980 for tickets and more information.
Saturday 13th September – Cardiff, Canton Library
Canton Library 2.30pm, Library Street, Canton, Cardiff CF5 1QD
Call 029 2022 9935 for tickets and more information.
Saturday 20th September – Carmarthen Library.
Carmarthen Library, 11.00am Carmarthen Library St. Peter's Street, Carmarthen SA31 1LN
Call 01267 224824 for tickets and more information.
Resistance - A Guide for Reading Groups
Resistance – in brief
Resistance is the story of a woman, a marriage, and a nation at war. It is 1944, and following the failed D-Day landings, a German counter-attack has landed on British soil. When Sarah Lewis, a twenty-six-year old farmer’s wife, wakes one September morning to find her husband Tom has disappeared, she discovers she is not the only one – all the men in the remote Welsh border valley of Olchon have vanished.
Unbeknownst to Sarah and the other women, their husbands have been training for months as part of a secret resistance movement in case of invasion. Bereft, angry and frightened, the women must try to keep their farms running by themselves, with no idea of whether their husbands will ever return.
Then, shortly after the men’s disappearance, a German patrol arrives in the valley. Sarah and the other women are initially terrified, but the soldiers are polite, and they begin to work the land together in uneasy harmony. The radio has ceased to broadcast and the valley’s remote location means they only hear snatches of news – tales of massacres, resistance, and collaboration.
Sarah begins a tentative and fraught acquaintance with Albrecht Wolfram, the patrol’s commanding officer, who has a secret reason for coming to the valley. As winter descends, both sides must decide whether to remain enemies or to come together in defiance of the war surrounding the valley.
Critical reaction:
‘An extraordinary achievement for such a young writer … It raises very strong questions about responsibility, about collaboration, at what price do you put your own needs above those of others ... It is one of those novels that really makes you think about issues, not just the storyline ... A beautiful and moving novel.’ Kate Mosse, BBC Radio 4’s A Good Read
‘It is 1944, D-Day has failed and the Nazis have invaded … This has been imagined before – but never as intensely as this. Superb.’ The Times
‘Remarkable … A brilliant and sometimes frightening thriller.’ Jan Morris, Guardian
‘The mixture of brutality and kindness is the great insight of Resistance… It demonstrates fiction’s unique power – we might call it the power of the hypothesis – to stand outside of recorded history and remind us how complicated and compromising an actual act of resistance might be.’ New York Times Book Review
‘A moving meditation on what war does to people … impossible to resist.’ Financial Times
‘A remarkable work of speculative imagination. Sheers writes with an austere, bracing beauty perfectly attuned to the stark lives (and loves) of his characters. The result is that rare gift, a literary thriller whose pages we turn slowly, even regretfully, savouring every word.’ Peter Ho Davies, author of The Welsh Girl
‘Gripping … It's a seductive story, made all the more appealing because it is so credibly set in circumstances that might have been. The reader ends up caring for everyone – Welsh or German or English. To gain empathy for a large cast of characters, all of whom line up on opposing sides of the war, is no small feat. These vulnerable men and women, indeed, become the faces of war.’ Washington Post
Questions for discussion:
‘Their husbands had not been who they thought they were. At least, not this last year.’ How did the women left behind feel about being lied to by their husbands? Do you think they had the right to feel angry or betrayed, or should war make these personal feelings unimportant?
What was the basis for Sarah’s relationship with Albrecht? How did you feel as they became closer? Was she being unfaithful to Tom in any way?
‘[Sarah] looked at the words she’d just written. Helped Menna pull Hywel’s field of mangels. That didn’t describe how they’d spent the day at all.’ Why is writing to Tom in her diary so important to Sarah? How does her writing change throughout the book?
Observing how quickly the British were getting used to the German occupation, George wonders ‘how long would it be before … a desire for peace, for safety, for some kind of future, outweighed the desire for independence from the Nazis?’ Do you think the British people would have ceased to resist so quickly and easily? How do you think – in general – people under occupation should weigh up freedom against ‘a desire for peace, for safety, for some kind of future’?
How realistic did you find Owen Sheers’ imagining of what life might have been like after a German invasion?
The Washington Post reviewer wrote: ‘The reader ends up caring for everyone – Welsh or German or English.’ Do you agree? How sympathetic did you find the German characters, and in particular Albrecht?
There have been quite a few successful books and films recently set during WWII. Why are we still so fascinated by this period in our country’s history?
Was Sarah’s decision at the end of the book a surprise? Do you think she made the right decision?
Other books by Owen Sheers
Non-Fiction:
The Dust Diaries
Poetry:
The Blue Book
Skirrid Hill
Suggested further reading:
Charlotte Gray by Sebastian Faulks
The Welsh Girl by Peter Ho Davies
The Night Watch by Sarah Waters
The Plot Against America by Philip Roth
Fatherland by Robert Harris
Restless by William Boyd
Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky
Atonement by Ian McEwan
Resistance is the story of a woman, a marriage, and a nation at war. It is 1944, and following the failed D-Day landings, a German counter-attack has landed on British soil. When Sarah Lewis, a twenty-six-year old farmer’s wife, wakes one September morning to find her husband Tom has disappeared, she discovers she is not the only one – all the men in the remote Welsh border valley of Olchon have vanished.
Unbeknownst to Sarah and the other women, their husbands have been training for months as part of a secret resistance movement in case of invasion. Bereft, angry and frightened, the women must try to keep their farms running by themselves, with no idea of whether their husbands will ever return.
Then, shortly after the men’s disappearance, a German patrol arrives in the valley. Sarah and the other women are initially terrified, but the soldiers are polite, and they begin to work the land together in uneasy harmony. The radio has ceased to broadcast and the valley’s remote location means they only hear snatches of news – tales of massacres, resistance, and collaboration.
Sarah begins a tentative and fraught acquaintance with Albrecht Wolfram, the patrol’s commanding officer, who has a secret reason for coming to the valley. As winter descends, both sides must decide whether to remain enemies or to come together in defiance of the war surrounding the valley.
Critical reaction:
‘An extraordinary achievement for such a young writer … It raises very strong questions about responsibility, about collaboration, at what price do you put your own needs above those of others ... It is one of those novels that really makes you think about issues, not just the storyline ... A beautiful and moving novel.’ Kate Mosse, BBC Radio 4’s A Good Read
‘It is 1944, D-Day has failed and the Nazis have invaded … This has been imagined before – but never as intensely as this. Superb.’ The Times
‘Remarkable … A brilliant and sometimes frightening thriller.’ Jan Morris, Guardian
‘The mixture of brutality and kindness is the great insight of Resistance… It demonstrates fiction’s unique power – we might call it the power of the hypothesis – to stand outside of recorded history and remind us how complicated and compromising an actual act of resistance might be.’ New York Times Book Review
‘A moving meditation on what war does to people … impossible to resist.’ Financial Times
‘A remarkable work of speculative imagination. Sheers writes with an austere, bracing beauty perfectly attuned to the stark lives (and loves) of his characters. The result is that rare gift, a literary thriller whose pages we turn slowly, even regretfully, savouring every word.’ Peter Ho Davies, author of The Welsh Girl
‘Gripping … It's a seductive story, made all the more appealing because it is so credibly set in circumstances that might have been. The reader ends up caring for everyone – Welsh or German or English. To gain empathy for a large cast of characters, all of whom line up on opposing sides of the war, is no small feat. These vulnerable men and women, indeed, become the faces of war.’ Washington Post
Questions for discussion:
‘Their husbands had not been who they thought they were. At least, not this last year.’ How did the women left behind feel about being lied to by their husbands? Do you think they had the right to feel angry or betrayed, or should war make these personal feelings unimportant?
What was the basis for Sarah’s relationship with Albrecht? How did you feel as they became closer? Was she being unfaithful to Tom in any way?
‘[Sarah] looked at the words she’d just written. Helped Menna pull Hywel’s field of mangels. That didn’t describe how they’d spent the day at all.’ Why is writing to Tom in her diary so important to Sarah? How does her writing change throughout the book?
Observing how quickly the British were getting used to the German occupation, George wonders ‘how long would it be before … a desire for peace, for safety, for some kind of future, outweighed the desire for independence from the Nazis?’ Do you think the British people would have ceased to resist so quickly and easily? How do you think – in general – people under occupation should weigh up freedom against ‘a desire for peace, for safety, for some kind of future’?
How realistic did you find Owen Sheers’ imagining of what life might have been like after a German invasion?
The Washington Post reviewer wrote: ‘The reader ends up caring for everyone – Welsh or German or English.’ Do you agree? How sympathetic did you find the German characters, and in particular Albrecht?
There have been quite a few successful books and films recently set during WWII. Why are we still so fascinated by this period in our country’s history?
Was Sarah’s decision at the end of the book a surprise? Do you think she made the right decision?
Other books by Owen Sheers
Non-Fiction:
The Dust Diaries
Poetry:
The Blue Book
Skirrid Hill
Suggested further reading:
Charlotte Gray by Sebastian Faulks
The Welsh Girl by Peter Ho Davies
The Night Watch by Sarah Waters
The Plot Against America by Philip Roth
Fatherland by Robert Harris
Restless by William Boyd
Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky
Atonement by Ian McEwan
Tuesday, 19 August 2008
Post your reviews and win a prize!
Please post your reviews of Resistance below and at the end of September we'll select a winner at random from the posts. Top prize wins twenty Faber novels.
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Prize,
Reviews
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