Flatlands

Product Information

I was surprised to read that the novel is a retelling of Paul Gallico’s children’s story The Snow Goose; I remember reading it and many other novels by him when I was a teenager, fifty-some years ago. BOOK DESCRIPTION:Freda is a twelve-year-old evacuee from the East End, sent to live with a farming family deep in the lonely landscape of the Fens. As I sit and type this, my mind is trying to find adjectives which encapsulate my feelings on the magnificent writing and storytelling. Together they nurse the goose back to health, but war is encroaching and Philip decides he must do something and ends up going to Dunkirk. When young Freda comes across a wounded rare albino pink foot goose, she goes to the abandoned lighthouse where Philip Rhayader lives, and the pair of them care for it until it heals.

This is a story told from 2 points of view and it takes awhile to figure out that the man's story is in the present and the little girl is looking back.But this friendship is broken when Philip overcomes his pacifist objections, steals a small boat and sails to assist the evacuation from Dunkirk. The descriptions of nature and the powerful sense of place are stunning and evocative, and the novel is drenched in the atmosphere and chill of the Wash.

I don't know if the somnambulant style was supposed to mimic the waterscape of this part of the world, but it seemed to work, and I really felt the halfway mark a reasonable place to leave this. By telling us of the small lives of her characters, in the middle of the hugeness that was the war the author really brings home the effects of war time life on normal people.Philip nursed the goose back to health and the christen it “Fritha”, a name that means “protector of peace” – as Philip points out is a “good name for a goose during wartime”. Though the author skillfully weaves Freda’s and Philip’s storylines into an engaging narrative, I found the transitions between the timelines and between the characters' individual stories to be a tad abrupt, which took a while to get used to. I think this would be an excellent book club choice as well and makes for a great summer read for so many readers when it goes on sale in the US in mid June. Overall, a much longer review than usual becasue I can't get it out of my mind but, at the same time, I couldn't love it. A beautiful book about how connections and kindness, no matter how brief, can make a difference in someone's life.