TLC Book Tours Book Review: The Poppy Wife

About The Poppy Wife

• Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks (November 5, 2019)

In the tradition of Jennifer Robson and Hazel Gaynor, this unforgettable debut novel is a sweeping tale of forbidden love, profound loss, and the startling truth of the broken families left behind in the wake of World War I.

1921. Survivors of the Great War are desperately trying to piece together the fragments of their broken lives. While many have been reunited with their loved ones, Edie’s husband Francis has not come home. Francis is presumed to have been killed in action, but Edie believes he might still be alive.

Harry, Francis’s brother, was there the day Francis was wounded. He was certain it was a fatal wound—that he saw his brother die—but as time passes, Harry begins questioning his memory of what happened. Could Francis, like many soldiers, merely be lost and confused somewhere? Hired by grieving families, Harry returns to the Western Front to photograph gravesites. As he travels through battle-scarred France and Belgium gathering news for British wives and mothers, he searches for evidence of Francis.

When Edie receives a mysterious photograph of Francis, she is more convinced than ever he might still be alive. And so, she embarks on a journey in the hope of finding some trace of her husband. Is he truly gone? And if he isn’t, then why hasn’t he come home?

As Harry and Edie’s paths converge, they get closer to the truth about Francis and, as they do, are faced with the life-changing impact of the answers they discover.

Artful and incredibly moving, The Poppy Wife tells the unforgettable story of the soldiers lost amid the chaos and ruins, and those who were desperate to find them.

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Purchase Links

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Review: I have had a love affair with the time period this book was set in, from the time I was in high school. WWI and the years that followed have always fascinated me. It started with watching the movie version of All Quiet On The Western Front and more recently Downton Abbey.

This story is so beautiful and heartbreaking. Imagine your loved one going MIA during a war and then years later receiving a photograph of them.

It is the tale of one brother who is trying to learn what really happened to another brother and that brother's wife, trying to find out if she really is a widow.

To say that my emotions were jerked around while reading this would be an understatement as would saying that this was a good book.

This was a phenomenal book that took me back in time and made me not want to come back to reality

Rating: 5 flowers

About Caroline Scott

Caroline Scott is a freelance writer and historian specializing in WWI and women’s history, with a PhD from Durham University. Born in the UK, Caroline currently resides in France. The Poppy Wife is partially inspired by her family history.