The Book of Ebenezer Le Page

Finished February 11
The Book of Ebenezer Le Page by G.B. Edwards
This book is the only novel written by this author and, as John Fowles tells us in the introduction, Edwards went to great lengths to minimize the information available about himself.
He was born on the island of Guernsey and lived there until joining the Royal Guernsey Light Infantry in 1917. He appears to have longed for the land of his birth even though he never lived there again.
This novel follows a character, Ebenezer Le Page, who was born on Guernsey in 1890 and stayed there for the rest of his life. It takes the form of a diary and follows his life from a young man through World War I, loss of friends and family, World War II and the German Occupation, the privations that came with that, and reaction to the growing dependence on tourism. The character reads true and we see his feelings, his joys and regrets, his friends and his family, his stubbornness and his loyalties.
I was lent this book by my mother-in-law and had heard good things about it elsewhere. I absolutely enjoyed it and the chance to live vicariously in Ebenezer's shoes for a short while. This is a great novel about a place and a life lived there.