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Not sure if there’s another book out there that tells the story of the women of WWI as well as this one does. Of course, the horrors and the trenches and the atrocities have been covered. Perhaps never before in its reality by a female writer. It was a horrid, horrid war. One that will, hopefully, never happen again. This is about the women living in post-war Britain. They’ve lost sons, brothers, and loves to the war. Dead or alive they are not the men and boys they saw go marching off. They are now shells of themselves. Or they are dead somewhere, identified or not identified. They are missing sight, limbs and sanity. They drink, they breakdown, they see ghosts.

Okay. This book is not that bleak. Really. It is 1920 and an unknown soldier’s body is dug up to be brought back to Britain in commemoration of Armistace Day, 1918 (told in italics.) Although I often dislike multiple story threads, I felt Anna Hope pulled it off. The three women vary in occupations and relationships to the soldiers and their aftermaths. They have lives, but they struggle. They live in various layers of British class and are of varying ages. I just thought it all just worked really well. And her war scenes were so well written. Eye opening if you are unaware of Britain post-WWI and worth the read if you are familiar with it. Well written. Exceedingly readable. One that’s going to hang with me.