this is so beautiful, thank you!

Love this story - very well written!

Such a great story! Thank you!

You are a fantastic writer. I love the detail you put into the "feeling" of living at the school, and the nostalgia for those times while Jersey is being occupied. I feel like there could have been some better character development between Stephen and Lillian. I felt like I didn't know as much about Stephen as I should have. And their romance was so distant... you sort of skipped on through after the initial "I'm in love with you" moment, and all of a sudden it's wartime and Stephen's gone. I think what might help is describing a bit more of the physical aspect of their relationship. Perhaps simply more cuddling and kisses.

Once again, well done, and I hope to be reading more from you soon! :)

I love all your works of fiction, although they seem to have the 'same' plot structure - a girl - usually against marriage falls in loe with the surly and domineering man - usually someone in charge of the place of her residence/employment.

I have to admit thought, that I loved Grieg, Snowdon and Paper Aeroplanes the best out of all your works that I've read so far. As soon as Stephen Isaac was introduced, i knew that he would be the one Lillian would end up with. If I hadn't read your other stories, I wouldn't have been able to guess from the moment he was introduced that he would be 'the one.' The reason why this story stands out the most to me is because of Euan. I love how even though he most probably had the shortest life in normal circumstances, he ended up being the only one alive from the group of First Years.

I really admire your writing and your incorporation of Welsh culture into your stories. I also love that they're all pretty much historical fiction, and I love me a good historical fiction.

Peace )

-daydee

Great story, read it a lot of times! The last sentence is very... moving. Your stories are always so well written!

I really admire your writing style. My favourite bits were the scene in Chapter 9 when the boys put 'Just Married' on the back of Peter's car. "Pig Number Three" was also very amusing, especially the lines "Got the blighter" and "Bramble! Come here, you little heathen...", and what the boys had done with the pig numbers. The scene where she was in labour and screamed "where the hell have you been" to Faber was funny, especially as Faber seemed like a very Nazi-ish Nazi, if that makes sense, who ordinarily wouldn't have let her say that to him without some retaliation. But it was sad when Lillian found out that Stephen had gone. I was glad he had gone because he was safe in England, but it was still sad. The ending was perfect, too; the allusion to the earlier chapter I felt was very fitting, and amusing, considering Stephen hated Byron!

I am very interested in the Occupation, and I think the descriptions you made about the aeroplanes coming over Jersey and the feeling of anger that Britain had left Jersey undefended and the Germans were forcing them to surrender were excellent. But, you wrote "We were bound to be next, being the next largest island" when in fact Jersey is the largest Channel Island, not the second largest.

The only problem, and it's a very minor one, is that I felt that it skipped forwards too fast between 1941 to 1944. I understand that it might be hard to write about the Occupation, especially with all the laws and changes going on, but I think it could have done with a little bit in between. But, as I say, it was a minor thing, and I know that the "in between" years wouldn't really have contributed to the story.

I feel really bad about writing that now, because this story is excellent! A big "thumbs up" from the Jersey girl!

Maia

This story was extremely well written and heart warming. I'm glad I came across this lovely tale as it was just beautiful. Well done :)

omg.

I mean, oh my god. that was the perfect ending. wow. you are so super smart and this story has been an absolute JOY to read. wow, I'm such a romantic. I thought you dealt with the heavy issues really well, and this was a story of years, and so it was... really touching. I wasn't expecting to feel so much, but I did.

thank you SO much for writing this.

the beginning was so sweet and funny and real, exactly the type of thing you could see someone remembering about a school. the ghost that was actually a sleepwalking student, the memorable teachers, the boys. that feeling of nostalgia. and then the war and everything, you handled well too. you never dehumanized your german characters, but you kept the often unspoken political tension tight. just awesome.

and I'm a sucker for a happy ending.

it's unhealthy how into this story I am! i let out a sigh of relief when I knew her secret (about her son's paternity) was safe. whew.

wow, amazing imagery with the jewish baby born by a german... this story is so awesome. not because of that but it just is.

wow, peter. I love these characters and how you even write the german officers and such. very intriguing. I admit, I miss the school days though... a lot :(

it must be such a frightening situation to be in... I'm all tensed up!

I have to apologize... my reviews so far have been very teen-girlish "OMG"s and such... Actually, I'm not sure if I reviewed saying "OMG" just yet, but trust me, I've been wanting to...

Especially with the romance... lord, it was perfection :) you skim over the details and take us through the years in a memoirish style, and sometimes I almost want to pause and stay in the moment, but I like it.

and now... nazis. omg.

haha, sorry. your story is too smart for my silly reviews.

oh dear, that IS a good prank, to label the pigs that way! made me laugh :)