Book Review: Feed Thy Enemy by Sue Parritt

Published August 28, 2019 | By Chris Parish

Hello and welcome to Sue Parritt and the blog tour for her novel, Feed Thy Enemy.

In this heart-warming narrative based on a true story, a British airman embarks on a plan that risks it all to feed a starving, war-stricken family.

Thirty years after serving in World War II, middle-aged Rob’s holiday plans see an unforeseen change that leads him on a coach tour of Italy. Struggling with post-war PTSD and depression, he reluctantly agrees to the journey – and sparks a dream that plunges him into long-stifled memories.

Set in Europe, Sue Parritt’s Feed Thy Enemy is an account of courage and compassion in the face of trauma. When Rob’s flashback delves into his attempts to save a famished family with a series of increasingly daring raids on his army’s supply stores, will he trigger suppressed remembrances of past war, love, and sacrifice – and find the strength to confront them in the present?

Feed Thy Enemy follows the life of Rob, a tail gunner in the RAF during the second world war.

Now an old man, he is haunted by the actions and memories of his past, suffering from frequent bouts of depression and insomnia.

When a holiday with his wife and friends is changed at the last minute he winds up going to Italy and is forced to face the memories of the time he spent there in Naples during the war and the Italian family he befriended.

Rob is a haunted man. I have some experience of depression and PTSD and I couldn’t help but empathise with him, the author doing a superb job of expressing the isolation and depth of his condition.

The story is not all doom and gloom though by any means, as it details how he went to great lengths (and considerable risk) to help an Italian family who only a short while ago would have perceived him as the enemy.

This story reduced me to tears in places and made my heart sing in others. A superb read.

(Review by Chris Parish)

About Sue:

Originally from England, Sue worked in university libraries until taking early retirement in 2008 to concentrate on creative writing. Since then she has written short stories, articles, poetry, a short TV drama script and six novels:

Sannah and the Pilgrim, first in a trilogy of a future dystopian Australia focusing on climate change and the harsh treatment of refugees from drowned Pacific islands. Odyssey Books, 2014. Commended in the FAW Christina Stead Award, 2014.

Pia and the Skyman, Odyssey Books, 2016. Commended in the FAW Christina Stead Award, 2016.

The Sky Lines Alliance, Odyssey Books, 2016.

Chrysalis,the story of a perceptive girl growing up in a Quaker family in swinging sixties’ Britain. Morning Star Press, 2017

Re-Navigationrecounts a life turned upside down when forty-year old Julia journeys from the sanctuary of middle-class Australian suburbia to undertake a retreat at a college located on an isolated Welsh island. Creativia Publishing, 2019.

Feed Thy Enemy, based on her father’s experiences, is an account of courage and compassion in the face of trauma as a British airman embarks on a plan that risks all to feed a starving, war-stricken family. Creativia Publishing, 2019.

Sue’s current project, A Question of Country, isa novel exploring the migrant experience through the protagonist’s lifelong search for meaningful identity.

Passionate about peace and social justice issues, Sue’s goal as a fiction writer is to continue writing novels that address topics such as climate change, the effects of war, the treatment of refugees, feminism and racism. Sue intends to keep on writing for as long as possible, believing the extensive life experiences of older writers can be employed to engage readers of all ages.

Like Sue’s page on Facebook – www.facebook.com/SueParrittAuthor/ or visit her website: www.sueparritt.com

Click to view on Amazon Australia – www.amazon.com.au/dp/B07R6SXZ84

Click to view on Amazon UK– https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07R6SXZ84

Click to view on Amazon US- https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07R6SXZ84