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"Hettie, a dance instructress at the Palais, lives at home with her mother and her brother, mute and lost after his return from the war. One night, at work, she meets a wealthy, educated man and has reason to think he is as smitten with her as she is with him. Still 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, more and more estranged from her posh parents, 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 Helpless, her loving husband of 25 years has withdrawn from her. Then one day a young man appears at her door with notions to peddle, like hundreds of out of work veterans. But when he shows signs of being seriously disturbed--she recognizes the symptoms of "shell shock"-- and utters the name of her son she 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"--… (more)
I really enjoyed the 5 days in the lives of these characters even though some of it was incredibly sad. I was a little disappointed with the ending, however, it did leave food for thought and I will think about it for sometime ( )
A beautifully written gathering of post-war London lives, that doesn't hide the raw and varied journeys that grief takes the characters on. Very glad that I stumbled across this one! ( )
"Hettie, a dance instructress at the Palais, lives at home with her mother and her brother, mute and lost after his return from the war. One night, at work, she meets a wealthy, educated man and has reason to think he is as smitten with her as she is with him. Still 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, more and more estranged from her posh parents, 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 of 25 years has withdrawn from her. Then one day a young man appears at her door with notions to peddle, like hundreds of out of work veterans. But when he shows signs of being seriously disturbed--she recognizes the symptoms of "shell shock"-- and utters the name of her son she 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"--
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FIVE DAYS IN NOVEMBER, 1920 As the people of London await the arrival of the Unknown Soldier from France, three women are dealing with loss in their own way: Hettie, who dances for sixpence a waltz at the Hammersmith Palais; Evelyn, who toils at a lowly job in the Pensions Office; and Ada, a housewife who is beset by visions of her dead son. One day a young man come to Ada's door. With him opens a wartime mystery that will bind these women together, and will both mend and tear their hearts.
A portrait of three intertwining lives caught at the faultline between empire and modernity, Wake captures the beginnings of a new ere, and the day the mood of the nation changed forever.