Inspired by the true story of a daring deception that plunges a courageous young woman deep into the horrors of a Nazi POW camp to be with the man she loves.In the dead of night, a Czech farm girl and a British soldier travel through the countryside. Izabela and prisoner of war Bill have secretly married and are on the run, with Izzy dressed as a man. The young husband and wife evade capture for … and wife evade capture for as long as possible—until they are cornered by Nazi soldiers with tracking dogs.
Izzy’s disguise works. The couple are assumed to be escaped British soldiers and transported to a POW camp. However, their ordeal has just begun, as they face appalling living conditions and the constant fear of Izzy’s exposure. But in the midst of danger and deprivation comes hope, for the young couple are befriended by a small group of fellow prisoners. These men become their new family, willing to jeopardize their lives to save Izzy from being discovered and shot.
The Prisoner’s Wife tells of an incredible risk, and of how our deepest bonds are tested in desperate times. Bill and Izzy’s story is one of love and survival against the darkest odds.
more
Though I’ve read a great deal of history, there are some periods about which I tend to shy away from fiction, among them World Wars I and II. The marketing material accompanying this novel emphasized how it was based on a true story, so I assayed it.
I’m not sorry. Once we got past the early portion, in which teenage Izzy, living on a Czech farm during occupation, falls in lust, er, love, with English POW Bill and marries him out of hand, the novel becomes really absorbing. The two take off, are captured, and the rest of the book focuses on their surviving–Izzy disguised as a man–in prisoner of war camps, before they join the infamous Long March to Freedom.
The author makes clear in the afterword that her novel is based on a story told in reminiscence by an old vet, who insisted that someone in one of his POW camps had a wife living there as a man. He couldn’t remember their names. The rest was research on the part of Brookes. Diligent research–except for tiny glitches like the German omitting caps of nouns, the background matches facts and attitudes I’ve been reading for decades.
The complex main characters are drawn with verisimilitude, and though there are a couple of scenes that feel a bit novelistic, they do contribute to the high tension and keep those pages turning. Brookes vividly developed the physical stresses of the characters’ experience, and the emotional fallout. It kept me reading until quite late.
Izzy lives on a farm in Czechoslovakia with her mother and brother. Life on the farm has been very difficult since her father and brother left to join the resistance. Izzy feels that her life is drifting along with no friends or fun. The German Army in the area agrees to send some English prisoners of war to the farm to help out. One of the men who came to help was Bill, an English prisoner of war. When Izzy and Bill make eye contact, there are interested in each other and over time they fall in love. They decide to escape and get married. Izzy dresses like a man to help hide her identity but it doesn’t take long before they are captured and sent to a work camp. Despite the difficulty, Izzy continues her male impersonation so that she and Bill can stay together. A group of prisoners in their group become friends and Bill tells that the situation and they help protect Izzy and help keep her secret. As the conditions in the camp continue to get worse and Bill begins to wonder if they will survive they begin hearing rumors that the American and Russian armies are getting close. To hide what they’ve done, the Germans who are left make the prisoners walk hundreds of miles in horrible conditions to stay ahead of the Russian Army. When Izzy and Billl are separated on the march, she knows that she’ll never see him again. Will their love survive all of the punishment and pain that they’ve been through?
This is a different look at WWII and a unique story. The author did a tremendous amount of research to make sure that her story matches the history of the time. I loved both of the main characters and was on the edge of my seat hoping for their survival against the darkest odds.
The Prisoner‘s Wife by Maggie Brookes is a wonderful historical novel based on a true story. The book takes place in World War II Europe and tells the story of a young couple that fall in love. The young man is a British POW and the young woman a farm girl who longs for adventure. I thoroughly enjoyed the historical details and that every character was so real. They are flawed and selfish but in most kindness and goodness are evident. At times the sex was descriptive and read more like a romance novel. Overall the historical details and writing made up for any criticism I might have and I highly recommend this book for history lovers. The author’s notes are exceptional and add so much to the story.
I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. I appreciate the opportunity and thank the author and publisher for allowing me to read, enjoy and review this book. 5 Stars
3.5 stars! I received a copy of this book through a giveaway with The Girlfriend. It’s based on a true story and was a different view of POWs during WWII. Very telling in the horrendous conditions they lived in and went through. Hard to believe they were able to endure all they did and hide her identity. I recommend the read to historical fans.
The Prisoner’s Wife by Maggie Brookes is an excellent historical fiction that is actually quite unique and creates a new angle of anguish that was experienced by Czech citizens and POW during the German occupation of WWII.
We start off by meeting the young Izabela and her family that live on a rural farm in Czechoslovakia around 1944. We see how they are affected by the men of the house gone fighting for the Resistance. Then, the reader gets to see how Izzy and Bill (a British soldier that is a POW with the Germans) meet and fall in love.
The main part of the book focusses on their temporary escape, capture, and subsequent time spent trying to survive imprisonment in a POW work camp. The conditions and situations that they have to endure are gruesome, demoralizing, and devastating. To see their passion, commitment, and utter devotion to each other is amazing. To further see the inmates band together to protect each other as well as Izzy’s gender identity (to keep up the facade that she is a male so that she can stay with Bill, is what this book is truly all about. This fundamental aspect of the human spirit is truly wonderful and sets this book up above its counterparts. The ending is also perfect.
Can’t say enough about this book! 5/5 stars
Thank you EW and Berkley for this ARC and in return I am submitting my unbiased and voluntary review and opinion.
The Prisoner’s Wife by Maggie Brookes was a real page-turner. It caught my attention and drew me in immediately. Excellent development of not only the main characters but also of Ralph, Max and Scotty. One criticism was the overly graphic descriptions of certain elements in the prison camps such as the latrines. I realize the intent was to show the degradation suffered by the prisoners, however, at some point enough said. A final thought was regarding the denouement was the lack of closure some of the main characters I cared about such as Ralph, Izzy’s mother and her father and brother. Aside from those preceding opinions, overall it was very well written and crafted. I received an Advance Reader Copy and these opinions are solely my own. Thank you to Penguin Random House and Maggie Brookes for sending me this book. I rated it a five.
I seem to really like and am drawn to the World War 11 realistic, historical fiction genre. This book has a unique perspective and I am certain that a lot of women during that period had to take drastic measures, especially for love. It was really a fresh breathe of air to read about how people living through such atrocities, with so little to give due to extreme forced poverty, were helping and taking care of one another during a time of vast human cruelty and violation of the most basic human and civil rights.
I enjoyed this fictional account (inspired by true events) of a marriage between a British POW and his young Czech wife during WW2. While the new marriage during horrific times was riveting in it’s portrayal, it was also learning more about the unrelenting atrocities of the death marches in the winter of 1944-1945 that kept me reading. I also needed to discover what was to eventually become of this couple and their many friends and acquaintances along the way.
What I found incredibly convincing in this story, was the author’s portrayal of a very new marriage and the visceral reactions of a wife learning about her new husband’s past. I felt this woman’s irrational anger and her husband’s shock and concern. Brookes did a fantastic job with Bill and Izzy’s characters in those first days and months of their hasty marriage. The capture and imprisonment of the two was new for me in regards to their locations and work camps, but the mistreatment was nothing new and no less shocking than most historical accounts. There were some day to day accounts that slowed the pacing at times, but it also gave perspective on what the characters experienced. As expected, there were moments of sadness and indignant bitterness, but in the end there was hope. Overall, a nice debut.
I really enjoyed this book. It was different than anything I’ve read. The characters were memorable and their experiences were very real to me. I would read it again and again.
Great historical fiction based on a true story about a woman who becomes a POW with her husband during WWII. It’s heartbreaking, knowing the torture and tragedy was real, but also inspiring as it shows mankind’s determination to live.
I enjoyed this book. Three quarters of novel was okay. The last quarter was very good. Three and half stars is my rating.
Izzy works on the family farm with her mother during World War 2. Their life in Czechoslovakia has been tough since her father and older brother joined the resistance leaving them unable to tend their crops. Izzy yearns to be with people her own age and dreams of a romance that she is unlikely to experience. She meets Bill, a British prisoner of war when he is assigned to work on her farm. Bill teaches her English and eventually they fall in love. This unlikely couple secretly marries and they both worry that he will be reassigned.
The newlyweds run away with the goal of joining Izzy’s father and the resistance. For safety measures, Izzy disguises herself as a man. Their plans are foiled when they are captured by Nazi soldiers and sent to a POW camp. Their living conditions are terrible and they are fearful that someone will discover Izzy’s identity. With the end of the war in sight, these two prisoners are in a daily fight to survive.
The Prisoner’s Wife was inspired by a true story. This story portrays love, spirit, and hope in the darkest of times.
If you ever wondered about “The Long March” during WW II, you will feel like you made the march with the characters. WOw, what a story.
I could not stop reading. The story is set in an era I love but it has the unique twist of being told from a POW, a woman POW. The even bigger twist is that the woman POW must pretend to be a man for her entire time being in the POW camp. Can you even imagine all that must entail? Hiding your womanly shape and features, not growing hair (shaving) as a man would, and dealing with your period when it arrives. I cannot even imagine all the Izzy went through just to stay alive and with her husband.
The characters of Bill and Izzy were perfect for the story. They met each other under difficult, to say the least, circumstances. They fell in love without knowing a lot about each other. They took risks to stay together and their love grew stronger. They learned about each other in times that did not allow them to have discussions, to fight and have time to cool off, they had to stay calm and stay together to stay alive.
The Prisoner’s Wife is a phenomenal historical story. It shows the life POW’s lived, it showed how love can be achieved even during war, and it showed how strong women and men were forced to be just to stay alive during WWII. I would have loved an epilogue with a glimpse into the future of Mr. and Mrs. Bill King and see how the lived after the war was over.
I
Izabela and Bill were destined to meet, but did Izabela realize what she was getting herself and Bill into when she rushed the marriage and escaped the farm she had known for her entire life?
Izabela immediately fell in love with Bill when she saw him in a group of British prisoners who came to help on the farm during WWII.
Her plans were to marry Bill, find her father and brother, and join the resistance, but the Germans had other plans for them.
We follow Izzy and Bill as they escape the farm, travel in the night, sleep in the day, become captured, and endure the prison camp.
They were sent to Lamsdorf Prison where Izzy had to hide that she was a woman. Surprisingly the men in their hut actually helped to hide her.
THE PRISONER’S WIFE which is based on true events was very tense, very well written, and very well researched.
You will feel the terror and pain the prisoners endured in the camps and on the historical Long Walk from Poland to Germany.
The characters were resilient, loyal, unbelievably strong, and easy to like.
Historical fiction fans will be completely absorbed in this book that gives yet another look at what suffering went on during WWII.
THE PRISONER’S WIFE is a beautiful but heartbreaking book.
A MUST READ!! 5/5
This book was given to me by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I thought that this book was really well done. I enjoy historical fiction every once in a while and stories set during World War II really appeal to me. I am always on the lookout for something a little different and the premise of this story grabbed me right away. I love the fact that this book is based on a true story and was eager to see how a woman was able to hide within a PoW camp. Once I picked up this book, I was hooked right away and didn’t want to put the book down. I am so glad that I decided to give this book a try.
At the start of this story, Izzy is a farm girl in Czechoslovakia and Bill is a prisoner at a work camp that has been assigned to assist at her family farm. They are drawn to each other from the very beginning and fall in love in moments when they are able to steal a bit of time together away from everyone else. They marry and escape only to be captured a short time later. This is when things start getting very dangerous for both Izzy and Bill.
I felt for Izzy and Bill from the start. They both just wanted to be together but a war that they could not control had the potential to take everything from them. I tried to imagine what it must have been like for Izzy to live in fear of being discovered and how difficult it must have been to hide her gender in the living conditions within the camp. Bill was in constant fear for Izzy and was willing to do whatever it took to protect her.
This was a really powerful story. The descriptions in this book were very well done and I was able to form a mental image of what the conditions in the camp were Bill, Izzy, and the others that were in on their secret. Everything from their constant state of hunger to the physical pain was vividly described. I felt like I was there with them as they fought to take another step and leaned on each other for support.
I would recommend this book to fans of historical fiction. I thought that this was a very well done and powerful story. I will admit that I would have loved to see a little bit about what happened to each of the characters after the story ended but I realize that most of the people being released from these camps would never know the fate of those they had come in contact with during their incarceration. I would not hesitate to read more of this author’s work in the future.
I received an advanced review copy of this book from Penguin Publishing Group – Berkley.
This was a well written and well researched book. It was also a bit sad and depressing. I can’t imagine enduring what Izzy and Bill did. It was intense and I had to keep reading just to know if they survived. Historical fiction fans will enjoy this. Thanks to Berkley and Netgalley for the early copy
I have read LOTS to WWII novels, and every single time I read one, I still cannot fathom and grasp what they went through and how they survived. The will power and strength these people endured, is just unfathomable and The Prisoner’s Wife is another example of those hero’s.
Izzy is a Czech farm girl, helping her mother and brother to keep things running. As her father and other brother left to help fight the war. One day, a man brings a group of POA’s to help her mother get the crops completed before winter settles in. Izzy eye’s these prisoners up and doesn’t understand what is so bad about them. They seem nice enough, do what is asked and they are grateful for the food and water. What could they have done that was so bad.
As they come, day after day Izzy falls for one of them, Bill. Her mother has seen the glances and smiles between the two and tries to warn Izzy off. But on the verge of womanhood, Izzy thinks that no one knows anything about her feelings for Bill and that he feels the same back. After weeks of meeting up at night, and each one sneaking to see the other, she hatches a plan to be with Bill.
The two run off, and quietly get married in secret after Izzy having called in a favor for them to be rightfully married in the eyes of God. The two of them then take off together, Izzy is determined to find and meet up with her brother and father. They can then help with the resistance.
Soon enough, their lives are in danger, and a plan is hatched. Izzy will have to act as a male. No one can know she is a female, let alone married to a POA. She will be shot with no questions asked. Bill realizes that he has to let others in on the secret, as he cannot protect her himself 24/7. She is terrified that this is not a good idea, and that she will then be found out. Surprisingly these men all agree to keep the secret and help keep her safe.
They inspire to have her courage, and look up to her. Izzy becomes known as a mute who has shell shock. She no longer speaks and Bill does everything on her behalf. Often the other men step in to make a diversion if someone is getting too inquisitive or handsy with her.
This is the story of how Izzy and Bill kept their promises of always being together, and to never leave the other no matter what. Where there was a will, there was a way and these two defied the odds and beat a lot of other’s in believing what they wanted them to believe about Izzy. This story really is remarkable!
This a story of love and survival during WW2. Izzy and her family own a farm in Czechoslovakia. Bill is a POW and is brought to Izzy’s farm to work. Izzy and Bill fall in love and are captured and sent to a POW camp. Izzy pretends to be a man so she can stay with Bill. This is a story of love and survival in the absolute worst conditions. I loved the main characters in this book. They are so well written with so many emotions the reader feels everything they do. I received an advanced readers copy and all opinions are my own.
Linda’ Book Obsession Reviews “The Prisoner’s Wife: by Maggie Brookes, Berkley Publishing, May 2020
Maggie Brookes, Author of “The Prisoner’s Wife” has written a unique, memorable, poignant, intense, captivating, and riveting novel. The Genres for this Novel are Historical Fiction and Fiction. The author is basing this novel on a true story, and using poetic license, filling in certain fictional details. The timeline for this story is during World War Two. The story begins in Czechoslovakia and goes to surrounding areas. The author describes her characters as complex, and complicated. Some are courageous, moral and brave. Others are mean spirited and evil. There is loyalty and betrayal.
Bill is an English soldier, that has been captured and is a Prisoner of War and being used with the other men on farms in Czechoslovakia to do the heavy work. Izzy is a young woman helping her mother run the farm and falls in love with Bill. Izzy’s mother is concerned about the War and has mentioned to Izzy, that it would be a good idea for Izzy to cut her hair and dress like a boy, so hopefully, any soldiers would leave her alone.
Izzy and Bill marry and are planning to run away together. They are both captured by the Germans. Izzy decides to pass herself off as a young man. Bill realizes that he is going to have to trust some of the other male prisoners to protect her. Some of these prisoners are risking their own lives to protect Izzy’s identity. If Izzy is found, she will be shot. Not everyone can be trusted. These are German soldiers, and this is set during World War Two.
The author vividly describes the events and the characters. This is a very edgy and tense read. I would highly recommend this book for readers who like World War Two Historical Fiction.