The shattering roar of the explosions was so very sudden, cracking though the physicality of air and earth, that every battered skull, and every baffled brain within those skulls, was shaken by it, and every surviving thought was shaken out. It shuddered eardrums and set livers quivering; it ran under skin, set up counter-waves of blood in veins and arteries, pierced rocking into the tiny canals of the sponge of the bone marrow. It clenched hearts, broke teeth, and reverberated in synapses and the spaces between cells. The men became a part of the noise, drowned in it, dismembered by it, saturated. They were of it. It was of them...
***
While Riley Purefoy and Peter Locke fight for their country, their survival and their sanity in the trenches of Flanders, Nadine Waveney, Julia Locke and Rose Locke do what they can at home. Beautiful, obsessive Julia and gentle, eccentric Peter are married: each day Julia goes through rituals to prepare for her beloved husband’s return. Nadine and Riley, only eighteen when the war starts, and with problems of their own already, want above all to make promises - but how can they when the future is not in their hands? And Rose? Well, what did happen to the traditionally brought-up women who lost all hope of marriage, because all the young men were dead?
Moving between Ypres, London and Paris, My Dear I Wanted to Tell You is a deeply affecting, moving and brilliant novel of love and war, and how they affect those left behind as well as those who fight.
***
This was my favourite read from 2013 and was originally posted on 19th November, 2013. I noted the price at the time as costing £3.86 that day. Today the same book would cost £9.19 from the same retailer. That is quite an increase, but I would still argue that it is worth every penny.
I have updated the review a little so there is more information about the book and the author but essentially the review is as it appeared that day.
I was instantly drawn into this story by the intelligent prose of the Prologue which sets the scene, introduces the characters and establishes the main theme of the book right at the outset. An explosion takes place on the battlefields of France, and Louisa Young demonstrates the ripple effect of this through a series of short paragraphs illustrating the thoughts of those who hear it both in France and across the Channel.
It was this ripple effect that I felt was one of the main themes of this book. That the effects of war reach much further than the soldiers themselves and extends to those whose involvement is far away from the battlefields and trenches. Young men went to war and came back changed. This also had significant repercussions on those left behind and reunions were not necessarily as had been hoped for, as the men who returned were not the same of those who had left.
This is also a story of love and of the class distinctions which existed prior to World War I. It was interesting to read the reactions of both families to Riley trying to ‘better’ himself. For me, it also raised questions as to whether the war changed attitudes to class?
This was much more than a book about war and love as it was thought provoking and informative. The descriptions of the pioneering work being carried out at the Queens Hospital in Sidcup inspired me to find out more about it. Any novel that makes me stop, think and research further has a lot to offer. I have read quite a lot of novels set around World War I and in my opinion, this is one of the best.
ISBN: 978 0007361441
Publisher: The Borough Press
Formats: e-book, audio, hardback and paperback
No. of Pages: 416 (paperback)
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