Do you know this book? WW2, German occupation of France

[LatinForTelly]

Please help me! This is driving me mad. I remember reading a book about the same time I read Rose Tremain's Trespass. It was set in World War 2 in France. The only bit I can remember about it is, I think a family were in one house with a young woman, and German soldiers took over a house nearby, in the country. At one point in the story, the young woman falls in love with a young soldier, and when it is discovered, they shave her head and assault her. Very traumatic (as was Trespass).

It struck me because I read both books near each other and how similar the setting seemed to be. This book was less literary than Trespass though. It may have had a house on the front cover.

It is NOT Suite Francaise, the Nightingale, All the Light We Cannot See or any of the other popular books that seem to come up if you google 'novel France, German occupation, world war 2' so I think someone would only recognise it if they'd read it. Can anyone help?

I feel like I read a novel in French about a German who was billeted at a farmhouse during the occupation, it was a set text. This would have been in 1988 though so my memory is not too fresh!

I don’t remember and head shaving though. I also think it was more a novella, quite thin. Was your definitely English in the original?

Ah no, I have worked out that what I read was “Le Silence de la Mer” by Vercors and the plot is nothing like what you describe!

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Silence_de_la_mer

Could it be one of Sebastian Faulks books?

Thanks @AndiOliversGlasses I think it was a group of soldiers living in a nearby house rather than one billeted and not really highbrow at all. Not trashy, but not as well written as anything you probably studied. Definitely English.

Thanks but no definitely not. I don't think I've read one since Birdsong. Also not as well written.

I don't know why I want to pinpoint it really. It's just annoying me I can't remember!

I think it’s by Joanne Harris but l can’t remember the name.

Is it this?

No, good call though, it seems very near but there wasn't the focus on food. Also it was definitely an adult affair between the German soldier and the French woman. It was part of a larger story, but I can't remember any of the other aspects. I can picture the farmhouse as I imagined it in my head but can't remember anything else. Annoying menopausal brain!

Marge Piercy, Gone to Soldiers?

Thanks, @Dilbertian but no.

I think I might have to read the Joanne Harris one to check. It's so close! Maybe I have just forgotten too much.

Sarah's key by Tatiana de Rosnay?

Is it Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky? It's a gorgeous book and it's one of my all time favourites. The author was a Jew who sadly perished due to the Nazi regime and her daughters found it years later.
There are other parts to it too.

No neither of these. Thanks, though!

A long shot here, could it be The Book of Ebenezer le Page by G B Edwards? It starts way before WW2, around 1900, but there's a section during the Occupation of Guernsey where one character iirc had a relationship with a German soldier.

Following. I’ve got no idea but I’ve read most of the above and it sounds like a book I’d like to read.

No, not Ebenezer Page, @BarbaraBuncle . The Joanne Harris one is definitely the closest. But I don't think it's it.

I didn't really think it was that one, but was searching my memory for novels where characters lived through the German Occupation and also got into a relationship with a soldier. That was the only one that came to mind.

Goodreads might have the answer. Have you had a look there?

It’s not all about food.

Its about a family and a women trying to hold them together.

Could the author be Rory Clements? There is a storyline similar to the one you describe in one of his books. I think it might be The Man in the Bunker.

Did she become pregnant to the soldier OP?

This thread has reminded me of a book I read with a similar plot but I don’t remember the head shaving … or the name of the book!

No, not the Rory Clements one, @LittleBowSheep . Thanks though.

I can't remember whether or not she became pregnant. I don't think so though.

No help but the film Lacombe Lucien has some of these themes. Very well made.