Rating: 5 out of 5

I’m still crying. What an amazing tale. With amazing characters. It’s made me think about the French wartime situation in a very different way. It’s made me wonder how brave I’d have been in this kind of situation. It made me appreciate the heartbreak that war brings with it. And that even the “lucky ones” who returned have changed beyond recognition. I’m not sure any book has reduced me to tears so much.

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I bought copies of this for Christmas as it was my most memorable book of the year. And so I thought I’d reread it. This isn’t something I do very often. But I still had all the same emotional reactions, I lived their lives with them and still finished it in tears. Beautiful.

Highlighted passages:

Lost. It makes it sound as if I have misplaced my loved ones; perhaps I left them where they don’t belong and then turned away, too confused to retrace my steps. They are not lost. Nor are they in a better place. They are gone

I know that grief, like regret, settles into our DNA and remains forever a part of us

A girls love for her father. Immutable. Unbearable. But unbreakable

About her Dad: > Him sweeping her into his arms, twirling her around

I know now what matters, and it is not what I have lost. It is my memories. Wounds heal. Love lasts. We remain

Originally posted to my Goodreads account