A Parachute in the Lime Tree

By Annemarie Neary

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At first sight this is a standard POW romance – German prisoner/local girl. This time, however, there are significant differences. Firstly the story takes place in neutral Ireland in 1941, and the romantic action unfolds while the downed German flier is on the run in the weeks before he is caught and interned. Secondly none of the romantic outcomes are those one might expect. The lovers are not reunited, and everybody marries somebody else.

The author tries to rectify this by adding two ‘postscript’ chapters set in 1999, in which the septuagenarian ex-lovers rediscover each other, their respective spouses having died in the interim. The German airman’s granddaughter has tracked down her grandfather’s old flame on the internet!

I am not altogether happy about the happy ending, but it is an enjoyable read set in a chapter of Irish history which is little known to English readers.