Winner of the “Highly Recommended” award of excellence from The Historical Fiction Company 2024
The page-turning story of a village in the grip of occupation and of those who have the courage to fight back
Rural England, 1941 and Louisa Carmody is trapped in a dirty war of resistance as her country struggles under the heel of a brutal invader. In the dilapidated local village, trust is in short supply and the need to survive trumps all loyalties. From the crumbling mansion that is her home a ragtag resistance group pits its meagre forces against the might of the invader.
Hunted by the enemy and betrayed by informers paid in blood money, the resisters know they cannot win. But they can exact a bloody revenge and it is this that drives them ever harder. Louisa can feel herself change because she too seeks revenge …Resistance and Revenge is the story of a village in the grip of occupation and of those who have the courage to fight back. It is also the story of ordinary people, of people damaged by war, but determined to win back their freedom, no matter the cost. But in this war within a war, the cost may also involve sacrificing their own humanity.
Pip Griffin –
The book is well-paced, cinematic and full of suspense and action. Catherine doesn’t hold back in describing struggles to hold onto ethical behaviour in the face of the deprivations of occupation, life and death challenges, frightening confrontations with ‘the occupiers’ and the revenge the resisters mete out to collaborators.
The book’s characters feel authentic. Two of my favourites are Heini, the German army deserter whom Louisa rescues and hides, and whose sketching skills Tom and the other resisters use to identify collaborators, and Charlie, a would-be entrepreneur whose questionable ethics and actions end up helping the resistance, bringing the story to its startling denouement.
If you are looking for escapism loaded with intrigue and adventure, this is definitely the book for you!
The Historical Fiction Company –
McCullagh’s writing is wonderful and is, thus, a joy to read. It is well-developed and full of details that draw the reader in. The details and imagery she utilizes throughout the book make the story come to life and readers feel like they can easily picture the scenes and characters that she describes. The book has also been well-proofread and edited. It is free of grammatical and mechanical errors which also enhances this reading experience.
War time era books are a dime a dozen in the genre of historical fiction but Resistance and Revenge stands out from similar books and that is because of the research and effort that the author has put into the story that she has produced. Readers will appreciate that she depicts small-town life under occupation rather than focusing on the mainstream wartime events that are often the focus of historical fiction novels. The author has clearly put in a lot of research and understands the experiences of the average person during this time period.
The intended audience for Resistance and Revenge are those readers who enjoy World War II historical fiction. Those who enjoy character dramas will also find this story to be riveting. It looks closely at human nature and experience in a beautiful and well-crafted way. The writing makes it easy to read and engage in so it would be a great choice for those just getting into the historical fiction genre will find this book to be a good place to start that reading journey.
A great story, wonderful writing, and stunning character development earn Resistance and Revenge by Catherine McCullagh a five out of five rating. It is a beautifully done narrative that breaks away from the typical wartime narrative of this genre and allows readers to see a more personal and inside look into the experiences of those not caught up in the mainstream events found in history books. It is a wonderful read that will be hard for readers to forget.
Kathryn Bashaar – Historical Novel Society –
What made this book really interesting to me were the horrific moral dilemmas faced daily by Louisa and by William and his fellow resistors. Whom do you trust? Whom do you dare to protect? Whom do you sacrifice for the greater good?
Louisa is a wonderful character: dignified, quick-thinking, highly moral and yet tough and flexible enough to make those agonizing decisions. This is a well-plotted book, populated with fully developed, interesting characters. The author obviously did her research: the alternate history feels very plausible. And the constant rain over a period of almost two years adds to the dreary, threatening atmosphere of the story. I highly recommend this unusual take on World War Two, a topic that I thought had already been done to death in recent fiction.