The Prisoner's Wife
Page 36
Philip Baker for the marvelous Lamsdorf website, Facebook group and meeting day.
Mgr. Martin Vitko of the State District Archives Nový Jičín (previously of the Regional Museum in Nový Jičín—Muzeum Novojičínska) for explaining many Czech things and reading the Vražné chapters. Also Dr. Anna Hrčková from Muzeum Novojičínska (Regional Museum in Nový Jičín) and Mgr. Jiří Střecha, director of the Czech Postal Museum (Česká pošta, s.p. Poštovní Muzeum).
And most of all to the writers Robert Kee, Horace Greasley, Peter Doyle, John Nichol, Tony Rennell, Anna Wickiewicz and the many private diarists whose books I have plundered for the episodes that make up my story. Most especial, heartfelt thanks go to my dad’s prison camp and lifelong friend Harold Gudgion and his son John. Harold’s wartime diaries and voice recordings were transcribed by John, and have proved a very valuable resource.
Finally, this book would not exist if my incredibly clever agent, Millie Hoskins, hadn’t believed in it and told me to cut out thirty thousand words. I am so lucky that the book was picked up by the extraordinary editor Selina Walker, who spent many, many hours coaxing it into shape. Thank you, Millie, Selina, Pippa and the whole amazing team at Century. And to my new American friends Kate Seaver and the fantastic Berkley team.
Questions for Discussion
1. Why do you think Izabela chose to leave the farm with Bill? Do you think she made the correct decision or should she have stayed with her mother and brother?
2. How do you think Izzy’s mother reacted when she found out Izzy had run away with Bill? Can you imagine the conversation between Izzy’s mom and her old friend Mr. Novak? Was the priest right to marry Izzy and Bill?
3. Were Captain Meier (the Oily Captain) and Herr Weber trying to help Izzy when they offered to take her home, or was it a trick? Why would they want to help her?
4. Bill and Harry spent almost five years of their young lives as prisoners of war. What do you think would have been the hardest element of that? Were you surprised that the Nazi regime used prisoners in labor camps to run mines and in leadership roles in industry and agriculture? Do you think the Geneva Convention was right to allow that?
5. How did Izzy’s “method acting”—inhabiting the imaginary persona of Cousins—help her to survive? Do you think she could have survived without developing this way of controlling her impulsiveness and temper? Could she have done it if “Cousins” hadn’t been part of her character all along?
6. Izzy had to remain quiet for almost six months. Would you be able to do that? What would be the hardest part? Do you think remaining quiet would be harder than the hunger and physical exertion? Would Ralph and Max and Scotty have confided in Izzy if she hadn’t been a quiet listener?
7. Where do you think Izzy finds the physical and emotional strength for the work in the quarry and the Long March? Could you have found the strength? Would Bill and Ralph and Max have been able to carry on if they hadn’t had Izzy?
8. Had you heard of the Long March across Europe before? Why do you think it’s such a forgotten element of the Second World War? Do you think Hitler intended to use the prisoners as human shields?
9. Do you think that the kind of events depicted in this novel are the inevitable end of the rise of a fascist regime? Could that happen anywhere in the world?
Photo by Lynn Gregory
Maggie Brookes is a British ex-journalist and BBC television producer turned poet and novelist. She is an advisory fellow for the Royal Literary Fund and an associate professor at Middlesex University in London, where she has taught creative writing since 1990. She lives in London and Whitstable, Kent, and is married, with two adult daughters. She has published five poetry collections in the UK under her married name, Maggie Butt.
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