Whilst I do associate [a:Simon Scarrow|60636|Simon Scarrow|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1240832197p2/60636.jpg] with the genre of historical fiction, these tend to be set further back in history: mainly around the time of the Roman Empire; there or thereabouts.

Until recently, I've tended to avoid his few works that are more contemporary in nature, only recently (towards the end of last year) reading [b:Blackout|48918693|Blackout|Simon Scarrow|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1584599376l/48918693._SY75_.jpg|74316186] as I felt they were 'too close' (if that makes sense) for comfort for me in that there are still people alive who lived through the setting.

I must admit, I did quite enjoy [b:Blackout|48918693|Blackout|Simon Scarrow|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1584599376l/48918693._SY75_.jpg|74316186] so thought I would also give this a go, due to the roughly the same (WW2) setting.

This novel flits back and forth between then and 'now' (of 2013), as the descendants of the main 1940s settings character start to discover more about their ancestors - in particular, as history teacher Anna uncovers the story of her maternal grandmother Eleni, who participated in the Greek resistance on the island of Lefkas during 1943.

The whole had-a-German-friend in 1939 thing almost seems incidental to the story (he's not), until roughly about the final third.

And yes, I did pick up on the arguments in favour of teaching history (a subject I did, mostly, enjoy in school) passages.

extremely well written.

The story is told in the present and in the past.

In 1938 three teens meet and enjoy life. Eleni, Andreas and Peter.

In the present Anna meets an descendant of Peter who wants to meet her grandmother Eleni. Not something Eleni wants, but instead she tells her story to Anna. Though I must say, it was not really Eleni's story we get, it is Andreas' story. Quite the shame, cos yes his story is good, but Eleni's would have been so different.

Ok, back to the past. The war starts. Italians and later Germans invade Greece. Andreas goes off to fight. Eleni stays at home, and Peter who knows Greek and the island will later be sent there. They will all meet again. And we all know that wont be pretty.

It's war. There is hate. There is struggle. They all want to fight for their country, even if their country is not always making the right choices.

But there is more. Peter was on the island with his father who was an archaeologist. And later Germans come back to find that which was not found, or was it? And to take it.

I do not think I have read a book set in Greece during WWII before. I liked the mix of war and the hunt for that which was hidden. It was also sad to see how the anger still lingered on. Still, more of Elenis' story would have been nice, but that would have made the book too big. Not to mention to see how Peter fared before he came there.

This was an okay read, but not a page turner. A two stage story of resistance on a remote island in Greece during WW2 and how it relates to one of the protagonists in the present day. Some good pacy parts with ambushes and partisans fighting it out, but with a predictable story line I am afraid not one of Mr Scarrows best

A fascinating story of resistance fighters in Greece set around the story of three friends, two Greek and one German, who before the war, had worked together in Lefkas on an archaeological dig and who meet up as enemies during the Nazi occupation.