The Witch of the Breton Woods Historical Romance, Twentieth Century
Wild Rose Press, Inc
Jul 10th, 2024
Kindle
163
Amazon
Traumatized by horrors witnessed during the Nazi invasion of France, a young woman retreats to the dense Breton woods where she becomes a member of the clandestine French Resistance. When she finds a critically injured American paratrooper whose plane was shot down, she shelters the wounded soldier in her secluded cottage, determined to heal him despite the enormous risk.
Ostracized by villagers who have labeled her a witch, she is betrayed by an informant who reports to the Butcher—the monstrous leader of the local paramilitary organization that collaborates with the Germans. As the enemy closes in, she must elude the Gestapo while helping the Resistance reunite the American with his regiment and join the Allied Forces in the Battle of Brittany.
Can true love triumph against all odds under the oppressive Third Reich?
Review By Sherry Perkins
Member of the Paranormal Romance Review Team
“The terror in their eyes thrilled him, the stench of their fear exhilarating.”—The Witch of the Breton Woods
You’ve heard me say it before, so I’ll say it again. I like books with a dedication or front and back matter because I enjoy knowing why the author was compelled to write their story. That Walker dedicates the book to her late brother, a World War II history buff, was exactly what I needed to know.
Although you may not have been alive during World War II, you’ve surely heard and viscerally experienced its horrors—particularly relative to the Gestapo. Walker succeeds in setting the tense tone early into the story. The sense of distrust, anxiety, abuse, torture, and brutality is ever present. Betrayal is something to be expected in the Breton Woods. Cruelty? Well, it’s something inescapable especially if your neighbors report any suspicious behavior or manufactured tales to the German collaborators, of whom, Etienne Boucher, aka “the Butcher,” is to be feared. The odious Butcher has his eye on Yvette although she is always quick to rebuff him.
Yvette Fleury is a young woman, now living alone on the family farm. Her father and brothers, save for one, slaughtered by the Germans. Yvette is a kind, willful, and resourceful woman. She’s also a healer which has garnered her the epithet of witch. Jules, her surviving brother, is—unbeknownst to most—the local French resistance leader. He and his clandestine resisters are known colloquially as “les Loups Garou” since they often hunt their Nazi enemy during the night and maul the enemy when captured.
When Yvette discovers a downed and injured American paratrooper in the woods near her farm, the story takes a more dramatic turn. She can’t leave him to die or worse, be captured by the Gestapo. She manages to get him home and nurses him back to health only not before they fall in love. But there is a war raging around them and her American lover, Zack, needs to get back to duty…will he find his way to his unit, will the neighbors betray them, will the Butcher have his way with Yvette, and what is the secret Yvette is hiding from them all? But more importantly, were there really witches and werewolves in Breton Woods or is this merely a satisfactory explanation of why you might think they were?
A four-star review about the horrors of war with a promise of courage, love and life regardless.