Review: The Prisoner's Wife by Maggie Brookes

The Prisoner's Wife by Maggie Brookes

Publisher: Berkley

Pages: 400

Format: ARC 

Buy the Book: Amazon 

Goodreads:  In the dead of night, a Czech farm girl and a British soldier travel through the countryside. Izabela and prisoner of war Bill have secretly married and are on the run, with Izzy dressed as a man. The young husband and wife evade capture for as long as possible--until they are cornered by Nazi soldiers with tracking dogs.

Izzy's disguise works. The couple are assumed to be escaped British soldiers and transported to a POW camp. However, their ordeal has just begun, as they face appalling living conditions and the constant fear of Izzy's exposure. But in the midst of danger and deprivation comes hope, for the young couple are befriended by a small group of fellow prisoners. These men become their new family, willing to jeopardize their lives to save Izzy from being discovered and shot.

Kritters Thoughts:  Bill is a POW and is assigned to a small farm where the husband and a son have left to fight in the war.  He interacts with the two women left at the farm, a mother and a daughter and over time he falls in love with Izabella, but they must make some quick and large decisions that could be risking their lives.  

For me this book didn't have great pacing.  The middle section felt long and repetitive and I was so thankful when the third part started.  Once the story started "moving" I was so thankful to see the change in scenery and how that would affect the situation they were dealing with.  

I appreciated Maggie Brookes' view on something that probably happened often during this war where couples had to make big decisions on what was best for their families and putting themselves first in a time of great strife in a war.  Many times while reading the book I kept saying I can't imagine this being truth all while knowing that there had to be some truth in this story.  Not only couldn't I imagine the issues they were dealing with hiding her gender, but just the POW experience in general.  

I think this was a great debut novel and would look forward to her next novel and would be interested to see what time and subject matter she focuses on next.

Rating: definitely a good read, but can't read two in a row

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from Berkley.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.