The Poppy Wife

In 1921. The Great War may have ended, but so many desperate families are still trying to find out what happened to their missing husbands, sons and brothers?
Edie’s beloved husband Francis is still listed as missing, Francis is presumed to have been killed in action in France and Edie still believes that he could possibly be alive?

Harry, Francis’s brother, was with him the day Francis went missing during the battle for Ypres, like Edie, he’s hopeful Francis is still alive and living somewhere in France?

Harry returns to France and he's trying to help grieving families find some closure. Harry takes photograph's of soldiers graves and sends the pictures back to their families in England. As he travels through war damaged France gathering news for British wives and mothers, he searches for any evidence that his own brother is still alive.

For Harry going back to France is very hard, he still suffers terribly from his own experiences during the war, he has horrible nightmares and flashbacks!
He also suffers from survivors guilt and why was he one of the lucky ones to survive the war? His younger brother Will died and older brother Francis has left behind a wife who's still not sure if she's a widow?

When Edie receives a mysterious photograph, she believes it might have been taken recently by Francis, and she's now certain that he's still alive? Edie embarks on her own journey in the hope of finding some trace of her missing husband. Is he truly gone, buried in a unmarked grave in France or could he be living in France?

But why hasn't he come home, has he lost his memory or has he been badly wounded and thinks she wouldn't love him anymore due to his injuries?
Harry and Edie’s paths cross, together they try to solve the mystery of what happened to Francis and could he hiding somewhere in France?

Thousands of men are listed as missing in action and France was a total mess after the war finished.
Towns are destroyed, buildings are gone, the landscape looks different and fields are full of old army trenches. The countryside is littered with discarded and broken weapons, empty shell casings, rusty barbed wire, bits of uniforms and bones.

While reading: The Poppy Wife, you can almost see the sides of the road littered with soldiers discarded belongings as they march towards the front and feel how nervous they are while waiting in the trenches for the whistle to blow and it's their turn to go over the top!
The Poppy Wife, is a intriguing, beautifully written and a very emotional book to read.

Opinions expressed in this review are my own, I gave The Poppy Wife five big stars and it's one of the best historical fiction WW I books I have read.

Upon reading the synopsis, it is clear that this is a fascinating premise for a book. There are many books surrounding WW1 but this is the first I have encountered regarding grieving families looking for closure of missing loved ones from the war; wives going from French village to village seeking answers or alternatively, a simple request for a photo of a grave site. Deeply touching reading material without doubt.

‘They stick up photographs of their husbands and their own faces. Like so many misplaced shoes that need pairing together again. I didn’t know that there would be so many.’

Richly written and detailed in its execution, Caroline Scott has presented an emotional read of what it must have been like to desire closure from the horrible outcomes of this tragedy. I guess I never really considered the absolute mess all this must have been after November 1918 and the following few years. So many thousands of people listed as missing amongst the complete destruction of town and country. Whole landscapes littered with who knows what amongst the discarded belongings, shell casings and barbed wire.

‘... a farmer is struggling with a plough. Harry has read about the iron harvest, the barbed wire and spent shells that block the ploughshare’s path ...’

This is a book told from multiple viewpoints and differing timelines between 1916 - 1921. Whilst enabling the reader to journey through the various situations, I did at times find these time jumps difficult to keep up with. There is a good mystery, a little romance and lots and lots of introspective thoughts and concerns. I cannot help but feel this book was just a few too many pages long, as I got lost at times amongst it all at times. There are a lot of periphery details which many might enjoy, with long descriptive sentences; yet, my desire was for the core of the story to be adhered to.

This was however, a highly engaging theme regarding the aftermath of WW1 and the often unaccounted for impact on the need for closure in order to move on. The idea here is indeed worthy of the readers attention and although long in parts, is well written and easy to appreciate the plight of those involved.

‘It’s the uncertainty that’s so difficult to live with, isn’t it?’ says Clara. ‘It’s all the questions that you ask yourself. The constant needling of the doubt. The being unable to focus on anything else. It’s so exhausting, isn’t it? I understand that.’



This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher and provided through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.