Power and Obsession
McCullagh’s Resistance and Revenge was one of my favorite books of 2023. Unfortunately, this offering falls far short of that standard.
McCullagh again places her characters in an imagined early 1940s England, invaded and occupied by Nazis. Emilia Shaw is recruited for a dangerous resistance mission: to become secretary to the SS general who effectively runs England, and pass information to the resistance. She doesn’t count on developing a friendship with the courtly General Oskar Voigt, nor on falling in love with police officer Brendan O’Connor, who works under Voigt’s command and may also be a secret resister.
McCullagh used imagination and meticulous research to create a very plausible occupied England. But, at 538 pages, this book is bloated. With pages of plodding exposition providing tedious detail on everything from the occupation’s political background to the characters’ clothing. With too many adverbs and meaningless adjectives like “exquisite” and “captivating.” With lengthy sections of dialog where characters explain things they and the reader already know. With numerous clichés and stereotypes. With way too much past perfect tense describing dramatic events that cry out to be immediate scenes.
Worse, Emilia is an enigma. She is pretty, intelligent, brave, resourceful – and insipid. Rule one of a novel is to create a character whose desire drives the story’s action. Emilia’s desire is a mystery. Her parents, brother and fiancé all died in battle or in the Blitz. One would think Emilia would be driven by revenge to join the resistance. Instead, we see her occasionally gazing sadly at photos of her lost loved ones. But we see no rage, no desire for revenge, no reason why she is willing to put herself in danger. She joined the resistance because she was invited.
The last few chapters tie up some loose ends, but the ending is both implausible and morally unsatisfying.
