The German Nurse
The German Nurse takes place during WWII on Guernsey from 1940 to 1945. Military personnel are evacuated from the island to fight on the mainland, leaving the police force to protect the citizens against the invading Nazis. Jack Godwin is a young police officer who feels it is his duty to protect not only the citizens from any danger, but also his family and his girlfriend Johanna, a Jewish immigrant, who fled Germany in the hopes of finding safety.
The German Nurse is inappropriately titled. The novel is about Jack, who rushes from one place and situation to another in order to ease the tensions between the islanders and the German officers, or to put out fires. He is the all-around good guy or everyday hero that everyone respects and listens to—even if it means giving yourself up to the enemy. Johanna is a minor character along with a number of others, including Henrik, a sympathetic German officer who is given a point of view for two short chapters, which left me confused. Unfortunately, the fires to which Jack runs make up the plot and tension. Jack is the only thing connecting them.
The novel is well researched and everyday life in Guernsey during the WWII occupation well-detailed, but it’s too wordy. Jack is likeable and his conflicts real, but the other characters are flat and one-dimensional, lacking any internal struggles. The comparisons to bestselling, contemporary WWII fiction are not accurate.
