Fall of Poppies

by Heather Webb, Hazel Gaynor, Beatriz Williams, Jennifer Robson, Jessica Brockmole, Kate Kerrigan, Evangeline Holland, Lauren Willig, and Marci Jefferson

[Lianne]

I was approved an ARC of this book by the publishers via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review. This review in its entirety was originally posted at eclectictales.com: http://www.eclectictales.com/blog/2016/03/01/review-fall-of-poppies-stories-of-love-and-the-great-war/

Fall of Poppies is a pretty solid anthology featuring interesting stories that focus on different aspects of experiences and events of the first World War: characters who witnessed atrocities firsthand and their aftermath, soldiers enduring lifelong scars, characters adrift as the world enters the glamour and optimism of the Roaring Twenties. Couples come together, couples are driven apart, children are lost, home is nowhere to be found. All the stories featured here kept my attention for various reasons: the writing, the storytelling, the characters, the themes of memory, the war, rebuilding lives.

While this collection was pretty solid, I do have my favourite stories. “The Record Set Straight” by Lauren Willig was a favourite, probably because it was a bit sadder than the others I read, there’s a sense of melancholy, resignation, and acceptance of things that had happened in the past and lost opportunities that came as a result of decisions made. Jennifer Robson’s “All for the Love of You” on the flipside was lovely and hopeful. Jennifer Brockmole’s “Something Worth Landing For” was something different, a marriage borne out of necessity than from love (at least initially), not to mention a good B-plot involving John’s strained relationship with his mother. Plus, I love a good story involving epistolaries :)

Overall Fall of Poppies was a great collection of stories from some fantastic writers who brought the period and the various struggles that went with it to life. Readers of historical fiction and of short stories will want to check this out.