His reminiscences take him to the personalities and skills of each brother. This puts them in the same regiment – good for taking care of each other. The three brothers join up together so they can take care of each other. Harry has memories of leaving for war with his two brothers because one brother wants to join up. Their separate searches cross and merge then separate through personal visits and letters sharing remembrances and recollections from before the war and during. She carries on the same search as Harry with different memories and different guilt. The story is about a woman, Edie, the wife of Francis who received a picture of him in the mail that might prove he is still alive. Harry is searching for information that refutes his memory of Francis being mortally wounded, but there are no records, just guilt, to support or refute that memory.

The story is about Harry, who may be the one survivor of three brothers if the oldest brother, Francis, is not found living. Soldier records were skimpy or lost in battle. As a result, wives, siblings, parents, and comrades spent years searching for information about a husband, brother, son, that had vanished without an easily found clue. With the end of the war people begin the long struggle to reconnect with friends and family displaced by the fighting, the bombings, and the troops both foreign and domestic. This book gave me a brief look into what he may have experienced and it made my heart sad for him and all soldiers who were involved in any war but especially World War I.

He died when I was 12 so I didn’t know him as an adult. When we visited there were usually as many as 10 or 12 cousins and siblings all under the age of 10 or 12 to play with. He was a kind, quiet man who was easily over looked when we visited our grandparents. One of the things I remember about my grandfather was hearing his sister say “Roy (my grandfather) was never the same after the war.” My grandfather was in France in 1917. But reading it gave me some insight into a grandfather I did not know well. Let me start with I’m glad I read this book.

The poppy wife