And thanks must go to my father, Neil Harper, for humouring me as he has done on so many occasions, and marking on an Ordnance Survey map the locations of the camps and GI activities he remembers from his wartime childhood.
If you loved Shelter, look out for Sarah Franklin’s next novel
How to Belong
Turn the page to discover some discussion points for your Reading Group
For your Reading Group
Shelter has a strong sense of place throughout. How important do you feel the forest is to the novel? Would the story have worked in another location? What do you think this strong connection to place lends to a story?
Both Connie and Seppe are trapped in different ways – Connie by her secret and Seppe in the POW camp – and yet they feel a sense of freedom in the forest. Why do you think this is? Could you relate?
Did you know about the lumberjills before reading Shelter? To what degree do you think our attitudes about women doing very physical ‘men’s work’ were changed by the lumberjills and others like them?
How much did you know about the POW camps in England, and the relative freedom that some POWs had? How do you think POWs would be received in the UK today?
It is rare to read a wartime novel where fighting isn’t the focus of the story. How do you feel about the Second World War after having read Shelter?
What do you think of Amos’ reaction to his world being so dramatically altered? Are there parallels in our lives today?
The novel explores what it’s like to be an outsider in a closed community, whether by choice or by circumstance. Is this something you can relate to from your own personal experience? How would you have dealt with these experiences?
How do you feel the meaning of the title, Shelter, developed as the novel progressed?
Does Connie remind you of any characters from other works of fiction?
How do you feel about Connie’s decision at the end of the novel? What would you have done in her position?
How do you think Connie’s choices would be received if she were making them today? Would they be so polarised?
The novel deals in part with maternal ambivalence. Do you feel this is something we should talk about more? Is this still problematic today?
The author has purposely left the ending open for interpretation. How do you feel about this? What do you think would happen next?
Throughout the story, Seppe is portrayed as more sensitive and less ‘strong’ than Connie. How did you feel about the way ‘masculinity’ and ‘femininity’ are explored in the novel? Do we need a more rounded exploration of what it means to be male and female in our fiction?
If you loved Shelter and want to keep reading, turn over for some of the author’s recommended books
Sarah Franklin’s Recommended Reading List
I read a lot when writing Shelter, but, in truth I’ve always loved the ‘hidden’ stories of the Second World War, and imagining ordinary lives – particularly women’s lives – in the middle of an extraordinary time; I had to restrain myself to keep it to just these few titles.
Growing up in the Forest of Dean is to grow up desperate for tales about this tiny pocket of land that reflect both its loyal, funny, thoughtful people and the beauty of its landscape. The titles mentioned here achieve both, I think. And for anyone keen to learn more about the Italian POWs, or the role of the lumberjills, the source books mentioned here have given me many a happy hour.
Books set in the region
The Changing Forest, Dennis Potter
A Fortunate Man, The Story of a Country Doctor, John Berger
Full Hearts and Empty Bellies, Winifred Foley
The Doll Funeral, Kate Hamer
Special, Bella Bathurst
Books that inspired me
The Forest of Dean in Wartime, Humphrey Phelps
They Fought in the Fields, Nicola Tyler
How We Lived Then, Norman Longmate
Whistling in the Dark: A Forest of Dean Girlhood in the 1940s, Joyce Latham
Italian POWs Speak Out At Last, Carlo Ferroni and Luciano J. Iorizzo
Books in a similar genre
For anyone keen to read fiction about the lives of people on the periphery of the Second World War, the following are all fantastic:
All the Light We Cannot See, Anthony Doerr
Their Finest Hour and a Half and Crooked Heart, Lissa Evans
The Dynamite Room, Jason Hewitt
The English German Girl, Jake Wallis Simons
Goodnight, Mr Tom, Michelle Magorian
First published in Great Britain in 2017 by Zaffre Publishing
This ebook edition published in 2017 by
Zaffre Publishing
80–81 Wimpole St, London, W1G 9RE
www.zaffrebooks.co.uk
Copyright © Sarah Franklin, 2017
Cover design by Heike Schüssler
Cover photographs © plainpicture/KL23 (woman);
Lee Avison / Trevillion Images (background).
Quote here used with thanks to LWT/Channel 4
The moral right of Sarah Franklin to be identified as Author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.
All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places and events are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN: 978-1-78576-283-3
Hardback ISBN: 978-1-78576-299-4
Paperback ISBN: 978-1-78576-282-6
This ebook was produced by
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Zaffre Publishing is an imprint of Bonnier Zaffre,
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Shelter Page 34
