Recreation

Peter Ho Davies

Davies is a British writer of Welsh-Chinese descent, educated in Britain and now teaching in America.

Back in 2003, Granta Magazine picked him as one of “Best of Young British Novelists”on the strengths of two short story collections. When his novel, The Welsh girl, appeared in 2007 it showed that Granta's confidence wasn't misplaced.

The novel is a highly readable and fascinating recreation of a wartime setting not seen much before in fiction: a remote village in North Wales where a POW camp is opened for German prisoners. Esther, the title character, is a young barmaid who becomes fascinated by the camp when a young evacuee staying with her family befriends one of the prisoners. The relationships are carefully and poignantly captured and at the same time the book contains the story of a German Jew who works for British Intelligence and is assigned the task of interrogating Rudolf Hess, imprisoned in Wales. The novel manages to weave the various strands superbly and it deservedly was nominated for the 2007 Man Booker.