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Firstly, how could I resist a novel written by the actress who played Dr Who's Novice Hame?!

A quiet, wise and sensitive lament for lost opportunities and the tortures of hope.

I so wanted to love this. I really, really did. It had so much going for it: the writing is both charming and uncompromising in its simplicity; the connectivity is clever and, for the most part, appropriate; it’s clearly been thoroughly researched and the choice of title is exquisitely perfect... but don't fret, I'll save you the torment of rattling off the three definitions of 'wake' and cut straight to the chase.

In essence, Wake is stylistically faultless. The fragile position of women as members of society, of history, and as noncombatants is powerfully evoked. The different attitudes towards the future are encapsulated perfectly, both the anticipation of the heady '20s and the distrust of the jingiostic politicans and generals who endorsed the Great War. But for me, that doesn’t quite compensate for the fact that the novel was simply too insubstantial in other facets.

It seems as though Hope was relying heavily on the historical context to render the novel emotionally compelling rather than investing in plot or character development. The mystery is lukewarm at best and although it claims to connect all three women, it really only concerns two. I must give credit where it is due: Hope gives a voice to the ordinary woman of the early 20th century, lurking in that corner of neglected history. It’s a perspective we don’t see often, especially as it concerns the aftermath of the war instead of the duration. But the backstories of the trio just felt a bit� samey. Ada, Evelyn and Hettie are colourless on a personal level. To put it more finely: they’re scenarios I’ve heard before, with little to define them. Each woman represents her generation rather than her own personal story - it’s like they were plucked from an archive: a mother, a lover, two sisters, each respectively associated with a man who has died, suffers from shell shock or has returned home unscathed. I understand that this was the harsh reality for so many, but it also was in Hope’s power to make her characters themselves more compelling in order to keep them relatively ordinary whilst also cranking up the authority of their stories.

I can appreciate that an exhilarating read is definitely not what Hope was trying to achieve. Wake's sensibility and elegance make it a valuable read about grief and closure - it just left no lasting impression for me.