William Morrow
Featuring: Lady Elizabeth Neville-Ashford; Robert Fraser
400 pages ISBN: 0062273450 EAN: 9780062273451 Kindle: B00DB3A5BM Paperback / e-Book Add to Wish List
Lady Elizabeth does not want to get married and live the
'family' life. She wants to travel, get out in the world,
and make something of herself. Such a concept isn't fit for
1914 England though. When war strikes, Elizabeth, Lily, sees
a chance to work as a driver for the war and takes it, even
if it means losing her family and maybe even the man she
loves.
As a huge fan of historical fiction and British things, I
couldn't wait to get my hands on SOMEWHERE IN FRANCE by
Jennifer Robson. I was expecting to find a solid, warm novel
with a good romance and a war background. However, SOMEWHERE
IN FRANCE turned out to be so much more than that, and I
couldn't be happier.
In this story, war is very real. To say Robson paints the
war well would be an injustice, because this is no
artificial portrait of a few years of battle (well, being
that it IS fictional does make it artificial, but my point
is that it feels much realer than a lot of historical war
novels). This is a very harsh and blunt look at the reality
of the first World War. You see the tragedy of it just as
the main character, Lily does. You see the destruction not
merely on the worldwide level as we so often see it, but on
the personal level. The level where Lily worries for her own
brother's safety, deals with her love interest's exhaustion
from performing surgeries on the soldiers all day, and even
beyond that, her own struggle with trying to drive the
ambulance bus back and forth from the battle field to the
hospital as quickly and efficiently as possible. It throws
you right into the very heart of a very possible life at the
time, and it gives you a feeling of deep meaning and
compassion.
Right alongside that horrible, but terrifically shown,
setting, Robson gives readers a beautiful romance between
Lily and Robbie. Their road to each other isn't easy, but it
is entirely gripping. Their small bubble of love and hope,
though very shaky at times, pulls you by the heart and
squeezes until the very end. Reading their journey is moving
and mesmerizing, and I am very content with how things turn
out in the end for the main characters.
As much as I love SOMEWHERE IN FRANCE, I do heavily wish
there had
been more closure on the secondary character, Charlotte's
end. I really like her as a character and friend to Lily,
and I was hoping for a little hint at how her own love life
would turn out. Even so, that in no way stops me from loving
SOMEWHERE IN FRANCE and recommending it to any historical
fiction
reader, but it is the one thing I wish had been put in
there.
Lady Elizabeth Neville-Ashford wants to
travel the world, pursue a career, and marry for love. But
in 1914, the
stifling restrictions of aristocratic British society and
her mother's
rigid expectations forbid Lily from following her heart.
When war breaks
out, the spirited young woman seizes her chance for
independence.
Defying her parents, she moves to London and eventually
becomes an
ambulance driver in the newly formed Women's Army Auxiliary
Corps--an
exciting and treacherous job that takes her close to the
Western Front.
Assigned
to a field hospital in France, Lily is reunited with Robert
Fraser, her
dear brother Edward's best friend. The handsome Scottish
surgeon has
always encouraged Lily's dreams. She doesn't care that
Robbie grew up in
poverty--she yearns for their friendly affection to become
something
more. Lily is the most beautiful--and forbidden--woman
Robbie has ever
known. Fearful for her life, he's determined to keep her
safe, even if
it means breaking her heart.
In a world divided by class,
filled with uncertainty and death, can their hope for love
survive. . .
or will it become another casualty of this tragic war?
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