The Stolen Child by Ann Hood
This story captured my attention quickly and I was unable to put it down. It starts with Nick Burns as a young soldier during WWI. While in a trench he meets a young French artist who gives him both her baby and some paintings and begs him to keep them safe. Unsure what to do, he leaves the baby near a well in a village center.
Skip to 1974. Nick is very sick and he wants to find out what happened to the baby and the artist. He hires a college dropout, Jenny, to go with him to France to, if possible, find the child, now a man. They travel through France and Italy in search of the artist and child.
I loved how Jenny evolved into her own person during this time and how she was able to come to terms with her own earlier decisions. Nick came to realize how his life, and especially his marriage, was affected by what he had done. Although it’s pretty obvious who the lost child is, I couldn’t wait to read about how they finally found him and the outcome.
Thank you to Netflix for my ARC.

A quick historical fiction read. The main characters Nick and Jenny were an unlikely pair that work beautifully together. I have read many of Ms. Hood’s books and this one would be my favorite. The story has all of the feels, good scenery, raw emotions and a good story.

Thank you #NetGalley, #W.W.Norton&Company, #AnnHood and #TheStolenChild for the advance readers copy for my honest review.

I found this to be a compelling story, especially after Jenny and Nick meet. I typically love dual timeline historical fiction, and this book varies that formula, with multiple characters whose lives overlap in various ways, although not all of them actually meet. Their stories focus on decisions—both made and regretted—love, longing, and chance. For me it was a quick read, as once I started I wanted to know what happened to the “stolen child” and that kept me going. Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the opportunity to review this book in exchange for an honest review.

Ann Hood's 'The Stolen Child' is truly something special, drawing you in with its deeply crafted characters and compelling plot. Nick Burns' journey, haunted by decisions made in the trenches of WWI, is both gripping and poignant. Teaming up with Jenny, a 20-something who works double shifts at the IHOP, they embark on a quest spanning France and Italy, unraveling mysteries of the past.

Hood's storytelling is rich and evocative, seamlessly weaving together historical detail and heartfelt emotion. The characters she creates are flawed yet utterly captivating, leaving a lasting impression. It was also fun and something a little different to read a book mostly set in the 1970s. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!

Ann Hood develops such in-depth characters that draw me in right away. I always look forward to her books. Nick Burns struggles with a decision he made years ago in World War 1. With only a few months to live, Nick enlists the help of Jenny to return to the the area he was during the war and unravel a mystery of what happened to a baby left in his care. I was intrigued from the start but found the middle a little slow. Hate to say I did a little skimming. But all in all I truly enjoyed this book. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

The Stolen Child weaves together a story of the WWI trenches in rural France, a soldier's friendship with a woman artist and her baby. She hands the baby and her paintings to the soldier and asks him to save them as she runs away from the invading German army. A lifetime later, that soldier, Nick, who has been haunted by his actions, hires an assistant, Jenny, who has her own secrets and wish to start over in life and they go to France and Italy in search of the woman artist and the baby boy left behind. The novel is compelling and Ann Hood has written rich and flawed characters that will stay with you. I read it in a day.

To many regrets for a dying man. O human child, to the waters and the wild something, something. For the world's more full of weeping than you can understand.

For sixty years Nick had wondered about a fork on the road that took place in World War I. In the trenches, Nick to keep his mind sane, drew pictures on the walls of the trenches. It is this act that compelled a young woman to give him her baby. She also was an upcoming artist herself. Maybe that is why she was drawn to him and asked him to take her baby to safety. However, what he did was take the baby and leave it at a village well. Nick was haunted by this decision. It affected his marriage after the war and left him with many regrets. He knows his life his short so he hires a young woman Jenny to go with him to Europe to find out what happened to the mother and the baby.

One of my favorites in a read is the ironies. This is a compelling story of regret, redemption, and renewal. The ironies bring the plot and the characters together. It is not neatly tied in a bow which makes it unforgettable. I finished it last week and I am still thinking about it. Bravo bravo.
Nicely done.

A special thank you to WW Norton and Netgalley for the ARC and the opportunity to post an honest review.

This is a well-crafted novel that I think will be successful with a certain type of reader. Nick is haunted by regrets, and Jenny can't stop thinking about a past mistake. The characters can be annoyingly passive in terms of not speaking out loud what they are thinking and feeling. Yes, Nick was damaged by the war and that impacted his ability to function. While understandable, it can still be frustrating for the reader at times. There are various storylines and I appreciated how the author moved through time. Ultimately the passivity and introspection may not work for fans of "genre" historical fiction because the pacing is too slow. However, I recommend this one to fans of literary fiction with a more introspective tone.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy; all opinions in this review are 100% my own.

Note: Thank you to NetGalley, W.W. Norton & Co,, and Ann Hood for the advanced reader copy of the book. What follows is my unbiased review of the book.

This book intrigued me when I read the description, since it’s not the usual World War II historical fiction. The story here goes from the trenches of World War I France to mid-1970s Rhode Island and Europe. It’s the story of regrets and decisions that haunt people, and coming to terms with all of that at the end of one’s life.

Nick Burns was a soldier in the trenches of France during the first World War. As the Germans were overrunning their position, an artist who lived in a nearby home handed him a bundle of her paintings and her newborn son and asked her to take care of them. In a daze, Nick walked through the fighting until he came to a town where he left the bundles near the well in the center of town.

More than fifty years later, Nick is approaching the end of his life. Not knowing what happened to that baby has haunted him for the rest of his life. He decides he needs to learn the truth. He employs a young woman, Jenny, to travel with him to Europe and try to find out what happened to the baby. Jenny has her own secrets that she’s trying to cope with, but her dream is to travel to Europe and this trip with Nick is everything she could hope for.

Meanwhile, in Naples, Italy, Enzo is a man working for his family’s business crafting nativity figures. He has also developed a Museum of Tears, in which he collects the tears of people and keeps track of them. It’s an interesting diversion as he stumbles through life, trying to find his place. The three of them will collide in a most unexpected way.

The theme running through The Stolen Child is regrets. Nick is haunted by his actions as a soldier. Jenny is haunted by a mistake and how she handled it. I wish they’d spent more time with her situation, as I could relate to her situation quite a bit. Author Ann Hood has done a wonderful job, though, crafting a tale about how our actions haunt us, especially when we hold them in and don’t vocalize them. Could Nick have resolved this earlier and possibly had a better life? I think the war, in general, damaged him in ways he couldn’t put to words and the baby was just emblematic of all he suffered.

The story moved through time to a varying degree, especially as it told Enzo’s story and the story of the Museum of Tears. I didn’t find it hard to follow, but there were a couple of times I had to backtrack a bit just to be certain I knew the setting. Otherwise, the story flows nicely and has a good payoff, even if I saw it coming early on. I still wanted to see how it would end, and it was an enjoyable read.

Hood's book has history, beautiful landscapes, and well-developed characters. The story is complex but reads easily and smooth. I rarely love historical fiction, but this worked for me. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.