When American soldiers descend on a small Welsh town for training during WWII, most of the local men have already gone to join the fighting. The women left behind provide quarters and companionship to the Americans, with mixed results. A native of the story's setting of Pontypridd, Helen Griffin has no trouble with the local dialect, nor with a smattering of other European accents. Her attempts at American English, however, offer a language never heard on this side of the ocean. If the listener can get past the astoundingly strange British portrayal of Southern and Boston accents, Griffin's characters are clear enough and her performance quite competent. But the getting past is a tall order, given the preponderance of Americans in the plot. R.P.L. © AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine--
Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine
--This text refers to the
Audio Cassette
edition.
Product Description
It is 1942 and, in the wake of America's entry into the war, the small community of Pontypridd suffers its own—not entirely welcome—GI invasion. The South Carolina Regiment billeted on the town soon cuts a swathe through its women, living up to GI's reputation as "over-paid, over-sexed and over here." For Bethan, whose husband is a POW in Germany, and her friend Alma, whose husband is missing, the arrival of the American officers brings new and dangerous friendships. While for Jenny, a bitter young war widow, it is a chance to bury her grief in a series of one-night stands. The women are caught between loyalty to their men folk and the very real attraction of the GIs, and when tragedy strikes the mines, the tension reaches breaking point.
