A beautifully written and structured World War II love story. Having been wounded on the Russian Front, Martin Hamer, a heroic and principled German officer, is seconded to a labour camp in occupied Poland, where he is expected to sit out the remainder of the war. Unsure of what his role at the camp is supposed to be and suffering an uneasy relationship with his fellow officers and guards, gradually Hamer finds himself drawn to one of the inmates, Julia Smollen. As the burgeoning relationship between the German officer and the Polish prisoner causes mounting tension in the camp, Hamer's troubled past is gradually revealed in a series of flashbacks. But, as he's about to discover, much of his life has been based on a tragic lie. And just as Hamer is forced to reassess and reevaluate his past, he is faced with a chance of redemption. A chance which would mean forsaking his rank, reputation and homeland. Is he brave enough to take it?
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Journalist Cottam's first novel, The Fire Fighter, was set in Britain in World War II. This time he switches sides to the harrowing life of a brave, principled German officer who becomes a hero of the Reich for destroying a Russian tank and thereby turning the tide of battle for a while on the Russian front. His recovery from a bullet wound while posted to a Polish labour camp is interspersed with flashbacks revealing the loss of his family's lands, his flawed marriage and a monumental deception which removes a cornerstone of his existence. Cottam's is a fascinating tale of love and a professional soldier's bitter war for an atrocious regime. His writing shows enormous promise but is over-complicated by so many flashbacks which put hiccups into the narrative drive of an otherwise compelling story.
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About the Author
Francis Cottam was born in Southport, Merseyside, in 1957. A full-time journalist, he has lived and worked in London for the past twenty years. His first novel, The Fire Fighter, was published in 2001.
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1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By R. Mcneill
Format:Paperback
I enjoyed this book immensely: a solid, well-crafted tale of love, loss, conflict and betrayal on several levels, set against a background of war on the Eastern front. (The battle scenes in particular are exceptionally well-written.)
Hamer returns injured to Germany an honoured hero of the Reich, feted by the Nazi hierarchy ... up to and including the Fuhrer himself. He is given temporary assignment to a concentration camp in Poland, where he meets and falls in love with Julia, an inmate. Fellow-officers treat Julia with contempt. They are the occupying master race, after all; she is Slavic and ‘untermenschen’.
But Hamer’s real conflict is coming to terms with his past (and the discovery that he’s been living a lie). Only radical action can alter the course of his future ...
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