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The Girl from the Channel Islands
The Girl from the Channel Islands | Jenny Lecoat
26 posts | 19 read | 25 to read
Inspired by true events, the riveting story of a young Jewish woman trapped on the occupied island of Jersey during World War II. Summer 1940: Hedy Bercu fled Vienna two years ago. Now she watches the skies over Jersey for German planes, convinced that an invasion is imminent. When it finally comes, there is no counterattack from Allied forces--the Channel Islands are simply not worth defending. Most islanders and occupying forces settle into an uneasy coexistence, but for Hedy, the situation is perilously different. For Hedy is Jewish--a fact that could mean deportation, or worse. With no means of escape, Hedy hides in plain sight, working as a translator for the Germans while silently working against them. She forges a tentative friendship with a sympathetic German officer who is likewise trapped by circumstance. But as the war intensifies, Hedy knows she is in greater danger each day. Soon, her survival will depend not just on her own courage but on the community she has come to cherish and a man who should be her enemy. Vividly recreating little-known events, this is an unforgettable tale of resilience and bravery, and of the extraordinary power found in quiet acts of heroism and love.
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Sharpeipup
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Easier to log time on the treadmill when you have a good audiobook.

AmyG Agreed! 2y
37 likes1 stack add1 comment
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SilversReviews
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FANTASTIC DEBUT!!

HISTORICAL FICTION - WWWII - ROMANCE

THE GIRL FROM THE CHANNEL ISLANDS is based on true events and has tension throughout especially because you are amazed at how Hedy kept herself under the radar.

A beautifully written, well-researched read.

FULL REVIEW: https://tinyurl.com/4smfs64y

#jennylecoat

32 likes2 stack adds
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SilversReviews
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#MARCHMAGIC
@Eggs
@AlwaysBeenALoverOfBooks
@LitsyEvents
#LitsyEvents

Today‘s Prompt: ESCAPE TO ANOTHER WORLD

THE GIRL FROM THE CHANNEL ISLANDS is based on true events and has tension throughout especially because you are amazed at how Hedy kept herself under the radar.

A beautifully written, well-researched read.

FANTASTIC DEBUT!! - Historical Fiction - WWII - Romance - https://tinyurl.com/4smfs64y

LOVED IT!!

#jennylecoat

Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks Looks good!! 2y
Eggs Ahh great cover and synopsis 😍🤗 2y
SilversReviews @Eggs I liked it. 2y
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AmyK1
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Mehso-so

This was well written and I did like reading a book about the Channel Islands but it seemed like not much happened. 🤷‍♀️

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suvata
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smalldogs_bigbooks2419 @suvata I‘m spending my day off work, binge reading the last 40% (according to the audiobook) of The Personal Librarian. My glasses got damaged recently and I haven‘t been able to replace them yet. That has slowed my progress way down. 😞 2y
suvata @smalldogs_bigbooks2419 no problem. Just send it when you can. I am a fast reader. Hope you can get your glasses fixed soon. That must be very annoying. 2y
Jerdencon @smalldogs_bigbooks2419 your book was sent out last week so should be there soon! 2y
36 likes3 comments
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suvata
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Mehso-so

• Read in May 2022 for Litsy Markup Postal Book Club #LMPBC Round 14 - GroupA

I liked it but, does the world really need another WWII book? Maybe. But perhaps I have just read too many and I am a little bit burned out on them.

Hedy Bercu is a young Jewish girl who fled Vienna with the arrival of the Nazis for the Channel Island of Jersey two years earlier, only to find herself trapped by the Nazis

Tamra In recent years I‘ve largely avoided WWII books for the same reason. There has to be a unique angle for me to be attracted to one. 2y
suvata @Tamra I agree 2y
smalldogs_bigbooks2419 I‘m sort of feeling the same. I‘m really enjoying this swap, but I think I‘ll take a break from Historical Fiction in general once we‘re finished with the swap. 2y
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suvata @smalldogs_bigbooks2419 That‘s why I try to pick different genres every round. 2y
smalldogs_bigbooks2419 @suvata I probably will join this sort of swap again at some point, but maybe a group with a little more variety of genres. My BOTM collection is bigger now, so that could be a fun one to join. I think that was one of the groups on the list, but I wasn‘t ready to join it at that time. 2y
suvata @smalldogs_bigbooks2419 there are so many wonderful groups on Litsy, I am confident you will find one that suits your needs better. 2y
41 likes6 comments
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smalldogs_bigbooks2419
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@suvata I finally sent the book out yesterday. Hopefully the surprisingly quick deliveries at least some of us experienced in the last round will continue this time. I hope you enjoy it as much as @Jerdencon have. I‘m really looking to forward to reading The Personal Librarian next. It‘s been on my TBR for a while. 🤩 @IndoorDame #markuppostalswap #groupA #Round14

Jerdencon Your book was sent Tuesday morning so should be there soon hopefully! 3y
smalldogs_bigbooks2419 @Jerdencon I have a few packages on their way between today and early next week . Most of our mail gets sent to the post office, but finding packages on our doorstep is sometimes fun 🤩 3y
suvata @smalldogs_bigbooks2419 Received the book today. Thanks! (edited) 2y
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smalldogs_bigbooks2419
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Pickpick

@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @Jerdencon @suvata @IndoorDame I was finally able to get back into my own Litsy account today! Feeling quite silly about the hissy fit I had, when the issue was just that I was using the wrong email address to sign in 🤦‍♀️ Anyway, I also finished The Girl From the Channel Islands today, and should be ready to send it off to @suvata early next week 😊

suvata Don‘t feel bad. These things happen. Very happy you got your account back in order. 3y
Jerdencon Glad you got your account back. 3y
Jerdencon My book to you will be in the mail tomorrow morning! 3y
31 likes3 comments
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smalldogs_bigbooks2419
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@Jerdencon I cheated a bit and flipped through the book to read your comments. They‘ve got me hooked way more than the summary I‘ve read of the story. Can‘t wait to “meet” Hedy, Kurt, and all of the other characters in this story. Thank you 😊 #markuppostalswap #groupA #round14

Jerdencon Glad it made it there quickly! Enjoy! 3y
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Jerdencon
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Your book should be there by Friday… sorry for the delay! @smalldogs_bigbooks2419
#lmpbc #groupa @suvata @IndoorDame

smalldogs_bigbooks2419 Looking forward to it! I‘m in that weird “well now what?” phase after finishing a good book. Not quite a book hangover. I loved the book I just read, and I was ready to be done and move on to another. 3y
37 likes1 comment
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Jerdencon
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I‘ve been a bit MIA here because life has gotten so busy (all good things thankfully) but just been so tired at night and busy on weekends and then work so haven‘t hardly read anything but I am halfway through with this for #lmpbc and will hope to get it into the mail by next week! @suvata @smalldogs_bigbooks2419 @IndoorDame #groupa

smalldogs_bigbooks2419 Glad to know someone else has a good chunk of their book to finish. Choosing to bail on Radium Girls put me WAY behind where I hoped to be by now. 3y
44 likes1 comment
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suvata
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#LMPBC Round 14 - #GroupA
@Jerdencon @smalldogs_bigbooks2419 @suvata @IndoorDame

Looks like a fun list. Happy reading, y‘all!

smalldogs_bigbooks2419 Radium Girls is a bit of a chunkster. 400 pages plus a cast of character, a bunch of back story info and discussion questions. None of it is a “must read” to follow the story. Just wanted to let you all know it was there and see if you‘d like to reconsider if that‘s too much extra stuff. 3y
suvata @smalldogs_bigbooks2419 Not a problem at all. 3y
45 likes2 comments
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kera_11
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Set during WWII, Hedy ran from Vienna to escape, ends up hiding in Jersey, in the Channel Islands, which become the only British territory ever occupied by the Germans.
Not really sure why I read this bc I don‘t like war set books, but this book was good for being what it was, very well written.

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K.Wielechowski
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Mehso-so

Hedy escaped Austria ahead of the Nazis only to find herself imprisoned with them on the island of Jersey. This would be bad enough but Hedy is Jewish, everyday of the occupation is filled with terror.
Kurt just wanted a quiet life of being an engineer in Germany when he was conscripted and sent to Jersey.
Hedy and Kurt find comfort and love while doing what they can to undermine the occupiers and keep Hedy safe from command‘s attention.

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booksaremyfavorite
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Pickpick

I have read many WWII books and this one stood out in its own way. It is based on real people and was very well researched before it was written. Hedy, Kurt, Dorothea, and Anton...friendship, love, and war. I do believe I will look for other books from Jenny Lecoat in the future.

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K.Wielechowski
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Happy Independent Bookstore Day!!! I may have gone a little overboard but it‘s for a good cause. Plus one was free and two are presents for other people 😂

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ReadingEnvy
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Pickpick

I would not have typically read this novel, as I don't read many World War II novels (and I've already read The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, which is a similar story during the same German occupation of British islands) but there are a few reasons this surfaced:↘️

ReadingEnvy -I'm trying to finish reading a book from every country in Europe this year. I realize Jersey is not exactly a country but it's also not exactly a part of the UK. (The internet says it is part of the "British Islands."
-The author was actually born on Jersey and her parents lived on Jersey during the occupation, so she has more direct experience to speak of. I think this comes across in the novel, both from the research and the placeness of it.↘️
4y
ReadingEnvy -The four central characters are all based on real people, and so this issue of an Austrian (Jewish) woman escaping to an island that ends up occupied by Germans is a frightening and true story.
-While the very famous book club book I mentioned above is about resistance, this novel looks more at the people who collaborated/were forced to collaborate/were seen as collaborators. ↘️
4y
ReadingEnvy One woman works for the Germans because she is fluent in German and English. One woman marries a man living on the island who fled the mainland but ends up conscripted into the German army, and suddenly she's a collaborator and her family won't speak to her. And this is only the beginning of the complicated and difficult situations the islanders find themselves in, not to mention Churchill's resistance to sending them much needed food and supplies 4y
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Crazeedi
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Pickpick

#Edelweiss published 2/2/2021
Thanks to #GraydonHouse for the opportunity to read and review this book. I was captured by the story of Hedy, a Jewess who escaped Austria only to be stranded on the island when the Germans captured it. She spoke German so she was given a job translating papers. She caught Kurt's eye while she was working.Her relationship with Kurt, a German officer unfolded in a beautiful way. ⬇️

Crazeedi I actually had to put down a couple times because I had palpitations, wondering how the book would end. I definitely recommend this book. #BookSpinBingo #18 @TheAromaofBooks 4y
Butterfinger Wow! 4y
Nute I‘m already curious as to how it ended thus stacking! 4y
TheAromaofBooks Oooo this one sounds so good!! I'm stacking!! 4y
Crazeedi @Nute @TheAromaofBooks I wasnt sure at the beginning of it, but definitely captured me! 4y
65 likes7 stack adds5 comments
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Crazeedi
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I'm 80% through this book and my heart is palpitating. Did you ever have to keep putting a book down to catch your breath? I want to finish and I want to stop right here....

Come-read-with-me I know that exact feeling!!! 4y
Crazeedi @Come-read-with-me 🙄 4y
AmyG Oh, I know that feeling! Enjoy! 4y
Branwen Best feeling ever! 4y
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Reecaspieces
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Pickpick

Review is up on my blog. Check it out. Love the setting on this one.

https://reecaspieces.com/2021/02/11/the-girl-from-the-channel-islands-by-jenny-l...

Jaimelire Sounds good! I just watched “Island at War” on Prime, a miniseries from 2004. Now I am really interested. (edited) 4y
Reecaspieces @Jaimelire now I am going to check out island at war!!! 4y
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SilversReviews
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Pickpick

♥️HAPPY PUBLICATION DAY!! ♥️

FANTASTIC DEBUT!!

Hedy left Vienna for the Channel Islands to escape German Occupation during WWII, but her safety is in jeopardy since the Germans are now occupying this British territory.

A beautifully written, well-researched read. 5/5

FULL REVIEW: https://tinyurl.com/y45xmp75

#jennylecoat
@graydonhousebooks
@harlequinbooks

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ReadingisMyPassion
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Mehso-so

The book is well-written and interesting. However, having read so many books on WWII, I was expecting more depth to the story. While based on the true story of Hedy Bercu, a young Jewish woman from Austria trapped on Jersey in the Channel Islands, the book is predominantly a romance, set during extremely difficult times. Not a lot has been written about life in the German-occupied Channel Islands during WWII, so I did find that interesting.

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SpookyMazeOfBooks
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coffees
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Pickpick

So I signed up for a #bookblogtour last year for this title and then found I also got it from my job as an audiobook! I don't want to knock it for its genre but for a #historicalfiction novel it was good. More #romance than I expected, which I couldn't help but compare to Paris Never Leaves You, which ended more tragically than this one. Easy read #worldwar2

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SilversReviews
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FULL REVIEW WILL BE ON FEBRUARY 2.

Another book you will not want to miss.

THE GIRL FROM THE CHANNEL ISLANDS is based on true events.

A beautifully written, well-researched read.

#jennylecoat
@harpercollins
@graydonhousebooks

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