The Last Green Valley - Mark T. Sullivan

🔅I received this book as part of Amazon First Reads back in December, the kindle and the audible version. After a few chapters I switched solely to audible and would listen only when driving alone.

🔅I don’t know why I continue to read WWII historical fiction novels if I always finish devastated - this was no exception.

Don’t be dissuaded from reading this because of reviews that claim it is slow-paced. This novel is based on a true story and thus constant plot twists or dramatic surprises are not what build this book. This is slow and gut-wrenching, just as the lives were of the people being oppressed by the Soviets and Nazi’s during and after WWII. 

The events described during our main characters migration often made me wince - such as a mother burying her child, a father/husband being ripped from his family never to be heard from again. Or the emotional, physical and mental abuse that the POW’s endured in the camps where they were forced to work nonstop with meager portions, poor protection against severe weather and minimal sleep. Their lives were expendable and simply measured in quantity of work they could give before their bodies failed them.

The Martel’s family reliance and trust in God is a recurrent theme in the novel and by the end you see how their faith really did aid them in beating the odds.

If you read this don’t skip the Afterword, Sullivan recollects on his research and time with the real Martel’s.