The following review is for Anna Hope's debut novel, WAKE. Anna Hope is a British actress well-known for her role in Crime and Punishment. From reading Wake you can tell that the author researched the era but forgets a bit of the heart of the story...
(I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review).
written by Anna Hope
genre: historical fiction, world war I, literary fiction
3 STARS
"London, 1920. The city prepares to observe the two-year anniversary of Armistice Day with the burial of the unknown soldier. Many are still haunted by the war: Hettie, a dance instructress, lives at home with her mother and her brother, who is mute after his return from combat. One night Hettie meets a wealthy, educated man and finds herself smitten with him. But there is something distracted about him, something she cannot reach. . . . Evelyn works at the Pensions Exchange, through which thousands of men have claimed benefits from wounds or debilitating distress. Embittered by her own loss, she looks for solace in her adored brother, who has not been the same since he returned from the front. . . . Ada is beset by visions of her son on every street, convinced he is still alive. Helpless, her loving husband has withdrawn from her. Then one day a young man appears at her door, seemingly with notions to peddle, like hundreds of out-of-work veterans. But when he utters the name of her son, Ada is jolted to the core.
The lives of these three women are braided together, their stories gathering tremendous power as the ties that bind them become clear, and the body of the unknown soldier moves closer and closer to its final resting place." (From Amazon)
I really wanted to like this novel but something about the writing kept me at an arm length. The writing and characters remind me of 1940s novels which I really liked. I also liked the realism of the soldiers' lives along with the families they left behind. I gave it a three because as I said above I could not feel the novel and also at times I found myself drifting off as it did not seem to flow between characters that well.
love,
kris
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