Resistance: A Novel Tag: Author of Eden Close

In the foreground of WWII, a young wife named Claire Daussois and her husband, Henri are members of an underground resistance movement in a small Belgian village. There is little romance between the two, indeed Claire takes extreme precautions to prevent conception, fearful of bringing a child into the unpredictable chaos of war. Commited as they are to the resistance, one feels the emptiness of their relationship, and in this environment falls Ted Brice, an American pilot, injured in a crash landing of his plane in their town of Delahaut.Saved by a spunky ten year old Jean Benoit, he manages to find his way to the Daussois home. There he is placed in protective hiding and must face his future at the hand of strangers.A tense story line unfolds as the town is caught up in the deception. Who can you trust? Citizen turns against citizen and everything is at stake. One must realize that this kind of activity happened. This is not just fiction, but based on realities of many villages across Europe and the horror of it all is almost unbearable.There is love in the hole of hell itself. There is forgiveness and strength in moving on. This is a lovely novel of a time many of us have no knowledge of. Therefore, it is very important to contemplate these stories, for in so many other words, most of them did happen. There was just no one left to write the story.

This was my second book by Shreve, Fortune's Rocks being my first. Without a doubt, Anita Shreve is one of my favorite authors. She astounds me with her brilliant writing and ability to touch emotions to the core.The fact that I've visited the area in Belgium she writes about and also the fact that my father was at Normandy for the invasion made this story all the more powerful for me. I believe when one chooses to read a book called "Resistance" one cannot expect a "happy" ending. It was a horrific time in our history and Shreve did an incredible job of portraying this. I admit some parts of the story on what the Gestapo did in the villages were very graphic.....graphic but real. Yes, the story was disturbing when one realizes it is fact. But I also feel (and I'm paraphrasing) "When one forgets history, one is doomed to repeat history." The love affair Shreve tells of Claire and Ted was not only poignant but I'm sure based on thousands of stories very similar. I thought she captured it best with Ted's thoughts, "And he himself knew that the war itself had changed the rules, twisted them beyond all recognition." This is exactly what war does. It's unavoidable. I feel people hurt more and love more during war.....just as Claire and Ted did. Shreve beautifully captured this love and the pain and horror that surrounded all of it.Realistically, the story/love affair could end no other way. I believe the reader knows this from the first page and this particular reader wants to thank Anita Shreve for a passionate love story combined with a realistic account of the heartbreaking tragedy of war. I highly recommend this book and at just 222 pages, it's a quick read difficult to put down. To quote the LA Times, "I reached the last chapter with hungry eyes, wanting more." And more for me is to now read "Eden Close" and continue soaking up this tremendous author and her powerful prose.

Just finished Resistance today and can't stop thinking about it. A slow start but as the story unfolded, I couldn't put it down. And I thought The Pilots Wife was good!

I'm a major Shreve fan, and her new Fortune's Rocks is, I think, her best. But Resistance is my next favorite. In this remarkable love story, Shreve captures the delicate balance between passion and loyalty that besets any romatnic triangle, but becomes so much more poignant set as it is in the world of anti-Nazi resistance, where both husband and lover are clearly good men. A beautiful book.

Resistance was the fourth of Anita Shreve's books that I've read. I've just finished it, and find myself haunted by both the characters and the setting. It is an incredibly tense story, and each turn of the page is exciting and dreadful, as the reader becomes more and more afraid for the characters. When I reached the end, I simply sat down and cried. This book brought home to me, more than anything else, how fortunate we all are to sleep peacefully in our beds at night, quietly and without fear. A wonderful book.