The girl from the Channel Islands

Hedy Bercu is scraping by, like the other residents of the Channel Island of Jersey in 1940, but her life has extra strain because she is Austrian and Jewish. Despite her attempts to lie low, she catches the eye of Lieutenant Kurt Newmann, part of the Nazi occupying forces. When Hedy is nearly caught stealing gas rations, Kurt takes the fall and the attraction becomes reluctantly mutual. As supplies are cut off from Jersey and the occupation intensifies, Kurt learns the truth about the deportation of Jews across Europe, and persuades Dorothea, the wife of Hedy's friend Anton, who has been drafted into the German army, to keep Hedy safe. Lecoat's debut is based on true events, which will make readers even more curious about the backstory and motivations of Hedy, Kurt, and the somewhat enigmatic Dorothea. The unique Channel Island setting may intrigue readers of WWII-set women's fiction, especially those who prefer a relatively gentle take on a harsh, salacious story line, as in Susan Meissner's The Last Year of the War (2019). HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: With a 250K print run and the attendant marketing plan, count on curiosity about this debut.

Lecoat's U.S. debut draws on the history of Germany's WWII occupation of Jersey, one of the Channel Islands, where the author was raised. During the summer of 1940, Hedy Bercu is living on Jersey after having escaped Nazi-occupied Vienna. After the Germans invade, Hedy is forced to register with the new government as a Jew, and she's later hired against protocol to do translation work, due to a lack of qualified applicants. Only the person who hired her knows she is Jewish, and while in the Germans' employ, Hedy meets Lt. Kurt Neumann, who becomes infatuated with her and takes the fall for her over stolen petrol coupons. Hedy and Kurt begin a secret relationship after his release from jail, but Kurt breaks off their relationship when Hedy confesses she is Jewish, not out of his adherence to Nazi ideology, but because he is hurt by her earlier lack of trust in him. After Kurt agrees to help Hedy find her parents in Vienna, he learns about the horrors of the concentration camps, and their romance reignites. As the war continues, and Kurt discovers there are plans to deport Jews living on the island, his prime concern becomes keeping Hedy safe. Lecoat capably combines historical fact with the fictional narrative, and offers a cast rich with multidimensional characters. Readers will be riveted. Agent: Fiona Brownlee, Brownlee Donald Assoc. (Feb.)