Jolie Fleming’s Reviews > The Welsh Girl > Status Update

Karsten first treated as hero; interviews by Rotherham; considered traitor when tells POW that war is lost.
Esther tells Mrs. Roberts it’s Rhys’s baby. Welsh courtship for couples who couldn’t afford to marry sharing a bed. Given Mrs R’s ring.
Cynefin: sense of place, passed from mother’s and daughters.
“Fear will make you believe anything.” (Hess)
K, seeing Holocaust film,: “and I was ashamed of surrender.”

K: escape as complicated as surrender. Tries to float to Ireland. Boat sinks. Ends up sleeping in a bunker, returns to farm.
Cynefin- sheep know their home - passed from ewe to daughter.
E tells of dishonor; K tells her to keep it
K surrenders to Jim
E: was all her recklessness a desire to be caught red-handed; now a hero.

Rotherham’s conversation with Hess to determine if he is sane. Hess claims amnesia as to why he flew to G.B.
Wales history: Britons retreated there when Romans invaded; Churchill planned to fight from there if Germans retreated. Scene with Bull in a field-metaphor?
K escapes,is fed by E w/o A’s knowledge. Follows A from mine.
Pub back to locals-Guards busy with hunt for K.

K speaks with E after boys teach POWs foul language. Makes toys for Jim who reacts negatively when announcement comes that Rhys is MIA presumed dead.; village now part of war. Asks is K a coward “Cowards don’t get taken prisoner, just run away.”
E is pregnant and now feels “she might really have been raped.
Description of how to ‘now ewes were mounted - red riddle on rams’ bellies and legs,
Arthur in mine w/art

3 major characters: Rotheram, Esther, Karsten in Snowdonia, Wales. Rotheram assigned to interview Hess.
Karsten voluntarily surrenders on D-day and taken to POW camp. Esther raped by English sapper building camp. Welsh resent that English put Germans there.
Strong secondary characters -- Arthur, Jim, Jack, Mary & Harry.
Karsten's letters to mom: who's protecting whom as each "idealize" their situation.