ABOUT THE BOOK
From the Sunday Times bestselling author of An Italian Girl in Brooklyn comes a captivating new novel of enduring love and devastating secrets, sweeping across England during WWII to Australia five decades later, based on a true story.
Rupert promised he was going to come back. All Florence had to do was wait.
Cornwall, 1944
When Rupert Dash is declared missing, presumed dead during the Battle of Arnhem, his wife, Florence, is devastated. She can’t accept that he has gone from her life forever, and so when she finds a poem called ‘Wait for Me’ hidden in an old book, she believes it’s a sign from her husband. A promise that he will return to her.
London, 1988
Since childhood Max has suffered from a recurring nightmare. Surrounded by the horrific chaos of war, he has an urgent mission he knows he must complete. But time after time, the dream ends with him awaking in terror, his heart pounding from the horror of the battlefield. Desperate to understand why he is haunted by such terrible visions, Max embarks on a journey that leads him to Cornwall and a man named Rupert Dash.
Melbourne, 1995
Florence receives a letter from someone she has never met, who lives on the other side of the world. This stranger says he remembers a life that belonged to another before him. Could this be the one person Florence has waited fifty-one years to meet again?
PUBLISHED BY SIMON SCHUSTER UK
PURCHASE LINK
MY REVIEW
Wonderful read!! It captures emotions beautifully and I was transported through time through these characters and storyline and I adored it!!
Set over different timelines, in different countries, the author has told an epic love story set against the backdrop of war, and explores reincarnation without being OTT and I was fully invested throughout!! I didn’t want it to end!
We are taken back to the 1930’s where Florence is a young girl, discovering love through a crush and carefree days! She had set her sights on Aubrey, but soon finds herself smitten with Rupert and they were such a beautiful pairing! But with the beginning of the war we watch their relationship through letters, and short times spent together before tragedy strikes.
And in 1988 we are introduced to Mad, who is suffering the most horrific nightmares, taking him to the battlefields in the war and he can’t shake them. His fiancee isn’t very understanding but he feels he wants answers and sets out on a journey of discovery through family history and I thought this was brilliantly done. He finds the right people around him to help him explore and are genuinely understanding to him and that opens up another aspect to the storyline.
This story explores the horrors and heartbreak of war, alongside regression therapy and the real possibility of a past life and it was just a spellbinding read. And the use of the poem really strikes an emotional chord!! Wonderful!!