Caroline Scott’s The Poppy Wife is a sweeping tale of forbidden love, profound loss, and the startling truth of the broken families following World War I.
1921. Survivors of the Great War are desperately trying to piece together the fragments of their broken lives. While many have been reunited with their loved ones, Edie’s husband Francis is still missing—presumed to have been killed in action—but she knows he is alive.
Francis’s brother Harry was there the day he went missing in Ypres. And like Edie, he’s hopeful Francis is living somewhere in France, lost and confused. Hired by grieving families in need of closure, Harry returns to the Western Front to photograph soldiers’ graves. As he travels through France gathering news for British wives and mothers, he searches for evidence his own brother is still alive.
When Edie receives a mysterious photograph that she believes was taken by Francis, she is more certain than ever he isn’t dead and embarks on her own journey in the hope of finding some trace of her husband. As Harry and Edie’s paths converge, they get closer to the truth about Francis and, as they do, are soon faced with the life-changing impact of the answers they discover.
“A tribute to remembrance, The Poppy Wife is one of the most meticulously researched WWI novels I have read. Scott’s characters rise off the page with passion, heartache, and unbreakable hope.” —New York Times bestselling author Sarah McCoy
“Scott masterfully weaves a layered story of both personal tragedy and redemption, filled with rich historical detail and lyrical prose.” —USA Today bestselling author Jillian Cantor