This is a post-world-war-two-story of a family and a former POW, as their paths intertwine, and they cope with the loss of someone they all loved.

This story feels like a particularly interesting thought construct as it deals with loss, infidelity, and homosexuality in the middle of the twentieth century and the risk one bears by being honest.
The story is very much character driven and if I had to summarize the plot in itself, it could probably be done so within a page. But what makes the story intriguing is that we spent most of the book in the different psyches of the three protagonists. This becomes apparent especially when it comes to the segments which are in letter format. The characters we meet are morally gray. They don’t act maliciously, but because of the pressures of the time to conform to society, they sometimes feel like they cannot be honest with the people around them and may end up hurting them as a result.

I enjoyed this book more than I thought I would, although not too much happens. The dialogues and the overall writing style keep the reader engaged till the end.

I listened to the audiobook and enjoyed the production as well as the narrators. I did think that Clementine's narrator sounded a bit young for the narrator.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for gifting me this ALC of the audiobook to review. All opinions are my own. I was not paid to leave this review.

This novel tells a moving story from three perspectives about love, truth, and the unpredictable consequences of loss. The narrative begins with Edgar, who dies in a POW camp, leaving fellow prisoner Starling heartbroken.
Before Edgar dies, he makes Starling promise something significant.
So after the war, Starling makes the journey to Edgar's family to fulfil this promise.
Clementine (Edgar’s Mom), mistakes him for someone else, allowing him entry into their lives.

This mistake stirs intense emotions and embroils Starling in a web of deceit. Aida (Edgar’s Sister) seeks the comfort in the arms of numerous men. She then forms a complex connection with Starling, driven by their mutual longing for Edgar.
At the same time, Clementine is also grieving, while harbouring her own secrets.

This novel is skillfully written - a narrative rich in history, loss, and love.
Set in the post-war time, it highlights the struggles of families trying to rebuild their lives surrounded by the lingering grief & unspoken truths. Adding to this is the unrequited love - Starling felt for Edgar- such an innocent feeling - yet an extremely dangerous time to be feeling it.

The multiple points of view keeps the reader engaged and invested in each characters journey. Having so many secrets being revealed through-out, making this story very hard to stop or put down.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for providing an advance audio copy for review.

A Particular Man was, to me, in the same vein (WWII historical fiction) as All The Light We Cannot See, but better. While All The Light was exquisitely written, I found it to be boring and not engaging. A Particular Man kept my interest as it was vulnerable, honest, and risqué relative to the time period of the story. Life was very different in the 1940s and post WWII brought many challenges to everyone returning to “normalcy” after the war. The story was realistic, relatable, and believable. The author included many plot lines which were VERY taboo for the times, but handled the topics with grace and humility. Instead of having the characters sweep the subject matters under the rug to pretend they didn’t exist, the author addressed the challenges in a believable manner when dealing with love, loss, and self discovery.

A Particular Man by Lesley Glaister and narrated by Esther Wane; Rosie Akerman; Paul Fox. I love, love love this audiobook and for context, I usually veer away from casts of more than 2 narrators as it tends to change an audiobbok into a bigger production, like a film without pictures or a radio play, but that is not the case here and I am very grateful for it!

Three POVs meant that the three narrators were absolutely perfect, also for the timeline and locations/ situations. A stellar performance by all three and a great audio experience

Shared experience as prisoners of war in the far East, secrets about a life lived and love lost, grief, passion and a compelling storyline, highly recommend for fans of the story of Alan Turing, this saga will tear your heart asunder and yet refill it with inspiration and hope for the human spirit and empathy

Thank you to Netgalley, Dreamscape Media, Lesley Glaister and narrators Esther Wane; Rosie Akerman & Paul Fox for this beautiful ALC. My review is left voluntarily and all opinons are my own

This was a beautiful story about a solder who shows up and tells this family that he knew their son and fought in the war with him. The family has mixed feelings since they were trying to heal from their loss. Though the man does bond some with the sister of the fallen soldier and that’s when things get a little crazy and secrets get revealed.

I have mixed feelings about this book. I liked the story and connected to the characters, but I feel the format wasn't a great choice. It's told through three alternating perspectives. While I normally love first-person multiple perspectives, I feel this book would've flowed better if it was written in the third person instead. The mother's perspective, especially, seemed unnecessary and distracting. Luckily, the dialogue between the characters was entertaining enough to keep my attention.
Overall, though, I did enjoy the book.
3.5 stars, rounded up.

Thank you NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for allowing me early access to the ARC audiobook edition of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

Thank you NetGalley and Dreamscape for an ARC of A Particular Man!

I really wanted to love this book, but it was a miss for me.

It's written in a way that makes the story really choppy and hard to keep track of. It's also written in such a way that it "tells you" and doesn't "show you." That mixed with that fact that most of the characters have a very cold way about them made it hard for me to really connect with the story.

It's a beautiful story in theory, but the execution is where it falls flat.