Resistance

As the wife of a Resistance member in German-occupied Belgium, Claire Daussois has grown used to hiding strange men in her attic. By the end of 1943, the tiny room has housed dozens of Allied airmen, soldiers and other refugees, whom Claire nurses and harbours from the perpetual threat of discovery by the Gestapo.The B-17 bomber that crash-lands outside Claire's village of Delahaut contains the man who will be both the last and the most significant of the attic's residents: US Air Force pilot Ted Brice. Ted is found severely wounded and semi-conscious by ten-year-old Jean Benoit minutes before the Germans begin their search for survivors. Knowing of Claire's connections with the Resistance, and desperate to atone for his father's shameful collaboration, Jean realises that Claire is the pilot's only hope of survival.The month that follows will stay with them both for the rest of their lives. A few weeks only, a handful of days, it is a period in which the war recedes in the face of more powerful forces - before imposing itself once more with shocking suddenness. "Anita Shreve's perceptive novel relates a simple story set in terrible times in a clear, dispassionate voice...Her respect for her characters is striking, as is the meticulous attention to detail....I reached the last chapter with hungry eyes, wanting more."  Los Angeles Times"Shreve is an intelligent, powerful writer."  San Francisco Chronicle"From the first sentence, Anita Shreve draws in the reader with the quiet poetry of her narrative voice...Resistance is a turn-off-the-phone, put-the-kids-to-bed-early, stay-up-'til-two-in-the-morning-on-a-work-night reading experience."  Detroit Free Press"Touching....The monumental events of World War II provide a vivid, terrifying backdrop to what is essentially a tender but tragic love story.  This is war on an intimate scale."  Hartford Courant"Shreve's prose is as gentle and dignified as the prose she describes."  Atlanta Journal Constitution"Superb...Shreve affectingly explores themes of love and loss with piercing clarity...With deceptive simplicity and superb control, Shreve evokes the impersonal horrors of wartime and its heartbreaking personal tragedies."  Publishers Weekly (starred review)