I did like this book - dark, atmospheric, had fun trying to figure out what would happen, if the characters would play true to type or not. Recommend.

In today's historical fiction market if you are choosing to write about WWI or WWII you really need to feel confident that you have a special story to tell; otherwise you are just contributing to the over saturation of the market.
Unfortunately The Verdun Affair didn't hold anything truly new or interesting to me. A few side stories that were very good; but then we'd get back to the main story and it was dull and drab again.

Disjointed
The way Nick Dybek has written The Verdun Affair is to jump back and forth between people's memories and their current day. However it's not always clear which timeline you're in or even which character POV is you are in. This created confusion for me at numerous points. At first I would read back to try and figure out what I missed; but after it happening a few times I'd just plow forward with the narrative and hope I figured it out before the POV or timeline changed again. There was just too much crisscrossing to really keep a good handle for me.

Side Stories
The best part of Verdun Affair was the little side stories that were told. They felt very truthful (as they likely are) and genuine. Additionally they were personal in a way that the rest of the novel did not match up with. My favourite side story of them all discussed a man in the trenches whom the enemy has just bombed, and if you were lucky enough to survive the bombing then you saw the enemy bearing down on you with guns a blazing. And of course you saw this through the smoke of the battlefield created by the bombs. Then suddenly the enemy falls dead. As if by magic. What actually happened is a high concentration of CO2 flowed up in a pocket and killed the front-line men racing towards the trenches.
I can't even imagine what you would think in those moments were you in the trench; but obviously many would go to religion or other spiritual thoughts as their life was saved, seemingly, by an invisible force.

Overall
Now that I've given you the gist of the best side story (above) you can confidently (in my opinion) leave this book to the side and move towards some of the better war literature out there. I would recommend one that doesn't chase amnesiacs around Europe or encourage delusional thoughts about a husband whilst sleeping with another man...
Or even better, one that is based on a true story with far more meaningful relationships and characters than described here.

Please note: I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. This is an honest and unbiased review.

I could not get into this book. I picked it up because I was hoping for a story similar to The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah, which I love, but after 30% decided to put it down. I can see how someone who likes a slow moving story might enjoy this read. However, I found it patchy and hard to find the bones of the story. Just not for me.

After surviving one of the most horrendous battles of WWI, two Americans meet. Tom and Sarah, both in Verdun for different reasons, embark on an affair. The secrets they both share will follow them into the future decades, from Verdun, a city in ruins, to 1950s Hollywood. Well written book.

I received an ARC of this from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I normally enjoy historical fiction, in particular war story romances but for some reason, I just couldn’t get into this one. It jumped around too much and I would lose track about what was going on, if it were past, present or future, and who was being discussed. So in the end, I just tried to get through it. It wasn’t one of the best novels I’ve read but it wasn’t the worst. It just wasn’t for me.

Thank you to Netgalley, the Publisher and the author for the opportunity to read this book in return for my honest opinion.

This book, while I enjoyed reading it, I felt it could have been so much more. The storyline was great, the characters were interesting, but I had such a hard time getting into this book. Once I struggled with the first few chapters, I did rather enjoy it, but I had to keep telling myself to keep reading, it would get better. I really did like the story, but found the back and forth a little disjointed instead of captivating.

I enjoyed this novel in the second half but found it quite slow and hard to get into at the beginning. It is a moving story if you can push through

1.5 star read

This book just didn't work for me. I think the idea behind it had such potential and yet it fell flat and didn't come together for me at all.

Jumping from 1920s France to 1950s California we follow Tom as his past and present come to a head.

Tom meets Sarah after WWI in Verdun - he is tasked with collecting bones of fallen soldiers in order to create a memorial to all the men and boys who died on the Western Front. Sarah travels to Verdun in search of her lost husband - missing since 1918, she doesn't believe that he is dead.

Tom complicates things by lying to Sarah about having met her husband, while also getting involved with Sarah himself. Not getting answers in Verdun, Sarah leaves the city, also leaving Tom heartbroken. This leads to Tom leaving Verdun and heading to Paris to become a reporter for a local newspaper, which then gets Tom sent to Italy to report a soldier who claims to have amnesia. Tom believes that Sarah might be there and jumps at the chance to report on this case.

While in Italy, Tom meets Paul, an Austrian who is also interested in the amnesiac solider, trying to right a wrong that was done to him during the war. Sarah does arrive, and the three characters form a strange triangle.

Jump to California, 30 years later, Tom and Paul randomly run into one another at a funeral. This leads the men to reminiscing about the past ... and Sarah in particular.

My issue with this story is that it jumps back and forth far to much, and in a way that doesn't really bring the story together. What could have been a beautiful love story, or a vivid story about France as it recovers from the devastation of the First World War. Instead we get snippets, narration that feels disjointed, the plot almost half-told.

It was difficult to read simply because I felt absolutely no connection with any of the characters, nor did the story-line pull me in.

A disappointed read for me. Not recommended.

Thank you Netgalley, Simon & Schuster Canada, and Scriber for providing me with an advanced copy in return for an honest review.

Thank you to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The synopsis of this book sounded really interesting and I love stories that recount events of the World Wars but this one just didn't cut it for me. I found the jumping back and forth between time lines to be very confusing. The characters were well developed and descriptions well thought out but the story left me wanting more. Found myself bored through most of the book.

We can't even imagine the horrors experienced by those who survived WWII as well as the many years it would take to reach some level of normalcy. Although historical fiction, this book is based on the very real experiences suffered by both those in the military and civilian populations.

A good read, well researched historical novel set in WWII. I found some of back and foresome memories of Tom and Sarah a littlelong and tedious. After Toms father died , he decided to look into his Fathers birthplace, Verdum and ended up becoming a bone collector there. Sarah arrived in Verdon searching for her 'missing in action" husband. Tom and Sarah met and had a short love affair. Sarah decided she wanted to continue searching for her husband and Tom relocated to Paris. Months later they met again and the story becomes more complicated. I would give it 3.1/2 stars.

Set in Europe after WWII, The Verdun Affair is an epic story about love and war and identity that will capture your heart and your imagination. It follows the lives of three people, thrown together in the aftermath of the war and again, nearly 30 years later in California. Impeccably researched, Dybek's tale is sometimes stark and ugly as it takes you into the trenches and killing fields of France, a mental asylum in Italy and the Italian streets during black shirt's uprising in Italy and yet, through all the ugliness, Tom, the hero manages to retain a goodness and sense of hope that will warm your heart.
The Verdun Affair is not light reading, but it's great read that will keep you wondering until the very last page.

Thank you to the publisher & Netgalley for the chance to read advance copy. I really wanted to like this book. It had all the elements I enjoy, reminding me of The English Patient. Unfortunately, I found the characters vague and unlikable. The random additional stories didn’t seem to fit and did nothing to push the story along. In the end, I really didn’t care how it turned out.

From its description I believed this book had all the ingredients I would enjoy; war, romance in a devastated city and the mystery of a missing soldier after he was believed to have deserted.
Told in the first person by a young man who was gathering bones to place in the ossuary, (and later in life as a reporter and Hollywood screenwriter), he falls in love with a woman searching for news of her missing or dead husband in Verdun as World War 1 winds down. He describes the horrors of war and his developing passion for the woman, but for some reasons his feelings seemed remote and muted, and I was unable to engage emotionally. Dialogue often seemed stilted to me, and the narrative detached from the actions and emotions described. The characters in the love story did not seem compatible.
There was a great plot here, and the author has a fine talent for words. However, there was much that was unnecessary in telling the story and which detracted from the plot.
I was sorry that I was unable to connect with the characters and events which may be entirely my failing, and do believe that some readers will enjoy the novel.
Thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I would like to thank NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Canada for selecting me to receive an advance copy. I was very excited when I received the email granting me access before its release date (June 2018). I wished this book was not on a first person narrative. I love historical fiction books. This book has all the right ingredients and so much potential. But I don’t find this one satisfying. The story line is good but something is missing. I wanted more. I was hungry for more. It felt incomplete. Perhaps more passion? I don’t know. It is definitely not engaging.