Transgression

From the book cover:

In 1946, a little girl finds a severed finger in a Canadian field. It points to a grisly crime that occurred nearby. It also points to the past, to the harrowing events in the life of a young French woman, Adele Georges, in war-torn Rouen.

When Adele's beloved father is captured by the German forces, she makes inquiries at the local authorities. A German soldier, 19 years old and far from home, tries to help her navigate the bureaucracy. Love grows across enemy lines, with devastating consequences.

Adele, a seamstress in a factory, is exposed as a "horizontal collaborator" and tortured by other women in the town square. Her lover, Manfred, has been transferred and Adele, abandoned by her family, her head shaven, is alone.

Despairing that Manfred has been killed, Adele yields to the protective embrace of a Canadian soldier who marries her and brings her home as a war bride to his small town. He too is scarred by war and twisted by turmoil upon his return. Adele, stranded on foreign shores, harbouring her shameful secret of consorting with the enemy is terrified of being unmasked.

My Review:
James W. Nichol's Transgression is one of the best books I've read in a long time. It is going on my 5ers List and Mr. Nichol's first novel Midnight Cab is going on my list of books to read and review.

Here's why I love this book:

The writing is straightforward and compelling. From almost the first page, I was interested in Adele Georges. She the type of protagonist you can get behind - she's young, she's strong, she's resourceful and she's an optimist despite the dismal world around here.

The characters are real people. I just know people like them existed back than and still exist today. From Adele's weak and delusional mother and her self-righteous brother to war-harden Lucille and Johnny. I know Mr. Nichol has done a great job of building his characters because my opinions differ from the opinions provided through Adele's first-person narrative. She falls in love with Manfred and sees him as a good person - I couldn't stand him! I think she would have been better off without him. To me, he's a useless coward.

Mr. Nichol's does a great job of illustrating how war damages people and societies. Being labeled as a 'collaborator' or 'sympathizer' can be fatal, and with everyone in such a fervor there is very little threat of legal repercussions. Adele's brother murders her best friend's father who was thought to be cooperating with the Germans, and ends up being rewarded after the war with a plum job in government. Adele suffers scorn and physical abuse for her involvement with Manfred, and it's viewed by almost everyone as being what she deserves.

This story is told via  three first-person narrators, Adele Georges, Jenny Broome and Jack Cullen. I really like the way Mr. Nichol's chose to structure this story. It's starts in France in 1941 with Adele sharing her story. Then in the next chapter skips to Canada in 1946, where Jenny is discovering the finger in the field, and then finally Jenny is eliminated as a narrator and Adele and Jack continue until the end of the novel. Eventually, Adele and Jack end up in the same time and place.

Well, I hope I haven't spoil this novel for you. If you haven't read it, I highly recommend you give it a shot!

5/5