Ernest Hemingway won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1953 for The Old Man and the Sea, and it went some way to securing him the Nobel Prize for Literature the following year. It's hard to imagine Hemingway's short story about an old man's travails would be a serious competitor today, which isn't to say it's a bad book. It's just a reflection of how tastes and perceptions have changed.

This is the first of Hemingway's works I've read (at 37 I'm a late starter) and I was surprised at the simplicity of the language used, and of the tale told. It's a story of friendship, adversity, futility and old-age. An old Havana fisherman, Santiago, hasn't made a catch in 84 days. His friend, Manolin, is a young boy who cares for Santiago but is no longer allowed to fish with him - Manolin's parents want him to fish on a luckier boat.

'Age is my alarm clock', the old man said. 'Why do old men wake so early? Is it to have one longer day?'

Santiago sets out to fish alone on his 85th day and what follows is one of the greatest struggles and challenges the old man has faced in his long years. For me the book is essentially an illustration of the human desire to overcome, and to not give in without a fight - whether that's the fish or his old age, deep down the ultimate futility is known to him, yet still Santiago shows indominatable spirit in his persistent struggle. It's not a hard read, and at just over 100 pages neither is it a long read, but it is certainly a rewarding one.

This is a book about the way in which war disrupts the lives of ordinary people, even when they are remote from the action. It also challenges our ideas of patriotism, courage, enmity and love.

Esther is "The Welsh Girl", living a quiet life as a farmer's daughter, and barmaid in the village pub during the Second World War. A prisoner of war camp is built nearby, in which Karsten, a German soldier who has surrendered, is placed. This camp brings disruption to the village, exposing feelings of hatred of the English towards the Germans, and of the Welsh towards the English. There is also a visitor to the village, Rotheram, a German Jew who lives in England, and whose job it is to question the German war criminal, Hess. This novel is the story of what happens when these people interact.

The notion of shame is at the heart of the novel. Esther is ashamed because she is pregnant by an English soldier who has raped her. Karsten, and the other German prisoners, are shamed by their surrender. Rotheram is ashamed because he and his mother fled from persecution in Germany. The interaction between the characters results in them realising that ideas of patriotism, nationality, and courage are arbitrary, and more complex than wartime propaganda would have them believe. Each character realises this in his/her own way.

This is a gentle novel, which is not very plot driven, which I found problematic at first. However, I like to read something different, which this is, although the themes are a bit well-worn. Once I got into the book, I enjoyed it, being especially interested in the Welsh perspective on the war. Not a riveting read, but good all the same.