Tag: historical fiction

#BlogTour #BookReview The Photographer of the Lost by Caroline Scott @CScottBooks @simonschusterUK

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Photographer of the Lost 2 BT Poster

I’m delighted to be hosting today’s stop on the blog tour for The Photographer of the Lost by Caroline Scott alongside my tour buddy, Amanda at My Bookish Blogspot. Thanks to Anne at Random Things Tours for inviting me to take part and to Simon & Schuster for my review copy.

The Photographer of the LostAbout the Book

‘Beautiful, unflinching, elegiac: The Photographer of the Lost is going to be on an awful lot of Best Books of the Year lists, mine included . . . it’s unforgettable’ Iona Grey, bestselling author of The Glittering Hour

1921. Families are desperately trying to piece together the fragments of their broken lives. While many survivors of the Great War have been reunited with their loved ones, Edie’s husband Francis has not come home. He is considered ‘missing in action’, but when Edie receives a mysterious photograph taken by Francis in the post, hope flares. And so she begins to search.

Harry, Francis’s brother, fought alongside him. He too longs for Francis to be alive, so they can forgive each other for the last things they ever said. Both brothers shared a love of photography and it is that which brings Harry back to the Western Front. Hired by grieving families to photograph grave sites, as he travels through battle-scarred France gathering news for British wives and mothers, Harry also searches for evidence of his brother.

And as Harry and Edie’s paths converge, they get closer to a startling truth.

Format: Hardcover, ebook (512 pages)  Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Publication date: 31st October 2019.     Genre: Historical Fiction

Purchase Links*
Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com | Hive (supporting UK bookshops)
*links provided for convenience, not as part of any affiliate programme

Find The Photographer of the Lost on Goodreads 

My Review

The legacy of war, in this case the First World War, is a theme vividly and movingly explored in The Photographer of the Lost. There are the traumatic memories of conflict and survivor’s guilt of those who came back, like Harry, the lingering absence of those who didn’t, and the unfinished business of those reported missing in action, like Harry’s brother, Francis. Francis’ wife, Edie, joins many thousands of others hoping desperately for some miracle or, at the very least, finding some resolution even if only a grave at which to mourn.

Edie’s search is cleverly connected with the art of photography through Harry’s current occupation, photographing the graves of young men lost in the war as keepsakes for their grieving families and for fiancées who will now never become the wives of their sweethearts. Photographs – what they can and can’t say, the capturing of a likeness or of a moment in time – play an important part in the book. Harry and Edie both attempt to piece together clues from the photographs taken by Francis in order to uncover his story, revealing along the way a tangled web of relationships.

However, alongside the grief of relatives and the wounds – physical and mental – suffered by those who survived, there are signs of hope. For example, as Harry returns to France in 1921 he sees evidence of the rebuilding of villages destroyed in the war and of their inhabitants slowly trying to return to something like normal life. I loved the way this is also reflected in the natural world. ‘There are lines of young, flimsy-looking trees planted around the edges of the cemetery. Beyond them are other trees, bent and blasted, with metal splinters embedded in some of their trunks. They are both ugly and beautiful, these stubborn trees; they are both candid witnesses and resurgent life. New growth breaks from scarred trunks.’

Harry also witnesses those attempting to respect the memories of the fallen through the careful tending of cemeteries or the maintenance of records that might reunite families or at least bring them closure. It’s a timely reminder as we approach Remembrance Day of the horror of war, its lasting impact on nations and individuals, and the efforts of many dedicated individuals to honour the fallen (continued to this day through the work of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.)

The Photographer of the Lost will immerse you in the stories of its characters as they search for answers, for the strength to carry on and for forgiveness. Tissues at the ready, people.

In three words: Powerful, moving, intense

Try something similar: The Glorious Dead by Tim Atkinson (read my review here)

thumbnail_Caroline Scott author photo - credit Johnny RingAbout the Author

Caroline completed a PhD in History at the University of Durham. She developed a particular interest in the impact of the First World War on the landscape of Belgium and France, and in the experience of women during the conflict – fascinations that she was able to pursue while she spent several years working as a researcher for a Belgian company.

Caroline is originally from Lancashire, but now lives in southwest France.

Connect with Caroline
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Book Review: Stealing Roses by Heather Cooper

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Stealing RosesEarlier this year I was fortunate enough to be sent a review copy of Heather Cooper’s debut novel Stealing Roses by the lovely people at Allison & Busby…. along with some fabulous goodies.

You can read my review below.

If you’re tempted to read it yourself (as I hope you are) then I have good news because Stealing Roses is published in paperback today. What’s more, it’s an Allison & Busby Book of the Month so you can purchase it from them at a special price.  Stealing Roses is also available as an audiobook.

Stealing RosesAbout the Book

1862 – Growing up in the small seaside town of Cowes on the Isle of Wight, free-spirited Eveline Stanhope feels trapped by the weight of expectation from her well-to-do family. Her mother and two elder sisters would rather she focus her attention on marrying well, preferably to the wealthy Charles Sandham, but Eveline wants more for herself, and the arrival of the railway provides just the cause she’s been searching for.

Driven by the cherished memories of her late father, Eveline is keen to preserve the landscape he loved so much and becomes closely involved with the project. She forms a growing attachment to engineer Thomas Armitage. But when the railway is complete and Thomas moves on, will Eveline wish to return to the way things were?

Format: Paperback (352 pp.)       Publisher: Allison & Busby
Published: 24th October 2019    Genre: Historical Fiction, Romance

Purchase Links*
Publisher | Amazon.co.uk  ǀ  Hive.co.uk (supporting UK bookshops)
*links provided for convenience, not as part of any affiliate programme

Find Stealing Roses on Goodreads

My Review

Eveline Stanhope makes an engaging central character. She’s independent-minded, intelligent, bookish and has a little bit of a rebellious streak which makes the social expectations that seem to limit her life all the more galling. By the way, who couldn’t love a book in which Eveline, complaining about the confined nature of her existence, is told ‘Anyone who reads widely is a citizen of the world…’.

Slowly, with the grudging agreement of her mother and despite the somewhat aghast reaction of her married sisters, Eveline seeks to expand her horizons. With maid, Jenny, she learns to swim (suitably kitted out in full bathing dress, of course) and starts to study photography. However, it still seems her future is likely to follow the expected course of marriage and motherhood.

The candidate favoured by her mother is Charles Sandham – handsome, rich, charming and well-travelled. Is he too good to be true perhaps? Then there’s railway engineer, Thomas Armitage – a taciturn, plain-speaking Yorkshireman who’s definitely less of a catch as far as Eveline’s mother is concerned.

Initially, Eveline views the coming of the railway to the Isle of Wight as like ‘a monster invading their peaceful world’ so she and Thomas Armitage naturally clash at first. Over time, however, Eveline finds her antagonism to the railway waning as she starts to see the benefits it can bring and the opportunity it offers to exert her independence. As a fan of Michael Portillo’s railway journeys TV series, I was also thrilled to come across the sentence, ‘The Bradshaw timetable was consulted.’

The book offers a candid view of the inferior position of women at this time. Not just Eveline, but Aunt George, forced to make her home with her dead brother’s family or Miss Angell, former governess to the family, now relying on their charity for a roof over her head. Whereas the men are able to get up to all sorts of behaviour. Therefore, I really enjoyed the parts where Eveline starts to take charge. Such as persuading her mother that railway travel is ‘more modern’ and will set her apart from the snooty neighbours as a way of saving expenditure on a new carriage.

The book creates a great sense of the period, such as the descriptions of clothing and meals. ‘There were to be oysters, and fried sole, and red mullet; a shoulder of mutton, and a fricandeau of beef; and a haunch of venison…along with several brace of pheasant.’ It depicts a time of scientific and technological discovery existing alongside ‘Victorian values’ that still held sway when it came to the social order.

A wedding, a misunderstanding, a rapprochement, news of a happy event, romance under the stars and the possibility of a ‘different sort of freedom’ bring the book to a satisfying conclusion. I thoroughly enjoyed Stealing Roses and the ending left me thinking I would love to find out, to coin a phrase, what Eveline did next.

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In three words: Engaging, romantic, assured

Try something similar…The Cornish Lady by Nicola Pryce (read my review here)

heather-cooperAbout the Author

Heather Cooper grew up in the north of England and has fond memories corresponding with writers such as P. D. James and Seamus Heaney during her time working at Faber & Faber. She later worked for the National Trust and even for the NHS, but now lives on the Isle of Wight with her partner. (Photo credit: Allison & Busby author page)

Connect with Heather

Website  ǀ  Instagram ǀ Goodreads