Wait for Me by Caroline LeechMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
I received an ARC of Caroline Leech’s historical romance WAIT FOR ME, for an honest review.
WAIT FOR ME was such a visual and emotional treat, with the intimacy of a historical memoir, and details that felt like an accurate account of two ill-fated lovers near the end of World War II.
Eighteen-year-old, Lorna Anderson’s life is spent on her father’s Scottish farm, milking cows, and lambing sheep. Lorna thinks she’ll stay to help her father after she’s finished school. Her brothers are away fighting in the British Army. And Nellie, the twenty-year-old from London, sent from the Women’s Land Army to help around the farm, has some wilding ways, but her infectious charm makes the daily routines of rationing and chores more fun—if not a touch dangerous. Lorna’s best friend, Iris, is seeing the preacher’s son, and she doesn’t like the way he talks to her or the way Iris isn’t acting like herself around him.
When the German POW trucks roll into Criagelaw Farm in Aberlady. The POWs stay in the camp on the Anderson’s farm, where they’ll work for their keep. Lorna is introduced to Paul Vogel, the new farmhand. He startles her, his steel gray eyes are hard, one side of his face burned, is he angry? Sneering? It’s difficult to read his expression. Lorna is doubly fascinated and somewhat terrified.
Everyone’s lost someone in the War. Miss Murphy, Lorna’s teacher, waits for her son’s return, along with Lorna, waiting for her brothers. Miss Murphy suggests Lorna keep her options open as far as life after school, maybe attend university. But Lorna insists that her father needs her on the farm.
The POW, Paul Vogel and Lorna become more acquainted, spending more and more time together with the endless chores around Criagelaw. Lorna learns more about the boy’s life in Germany and the mother and young sister he’s left behind. She begins to feel differently about many things and begins to fall for Paul. But he’s the enemy. Loving him could mean losing her family, and the only life she’s known on the farm. Lorna may have to stand on her own to defend him, against the gossip and naysayers of the town, even from those she once trusted.
A great YA read! I was thoroughly hypnotized by author’s prose, elegant with enough detail to set you right inside a fully visualized world, rich in setting and sense of time. The world the author’s created still lives with me. The character’s hearts beat and the suspense made mine, beat faster. An epic debut from Caroline Leech, expected publication: January 31st, 2017 (HarperTeen)
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