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Author Judith Barrow |
AmeriCymru: Hi, Judith and many thanks for agreeing to be interviewed by AmeriCymru. Your most recent novel Pattern of Shadows is set in a WWII POW camp. Care to tell us a little more about it?
Judith: Pattern of Shadows is the story of Mary Howarth, a nurse in the hospital of the German POW camp in her town of Ashford in the North West of England. Initially courted by a guard at the camp, Frank Shuttleworth, she soon realises that he not what he seems; he is a moody, possessive and dangerous man. Mary comes from a difficult background but she’s loyal to her dysfunctional family and, as the main breadwinner, she accepts the weight of the demands on her; she toes the line. Then she meets Peter Schormann. Peter is a German prisoner. He is also a doctor and under the rules of the camp he works in the hospital alongside Mary. As a civilian nurse Mary Howarth has been warned against the dangers of being too friendly towards any of the patients or German doctors. However, as the story unfolds Mary’s initial dislike slowly turns to cautious respect for Peter’s skill as a surgeon, then to an illicit friendship. Mary rails against the familial and national loyalties that constrain and forbids her feelings for a man who is considered an enemy. In times of war such a relationship is called fraternization. And fraternization is a dangerous and serious offence. Loyalty and love usually come hand in hand. In Pattern of Shadows they are absolutely opposed. And, inevitably, alongside that conflict there is jealousy. Unable to believe that Mary is rejecting him, and suspicious of her feelings for the German doctor, Frank confronts her - with dreadful consequences.
