Absolutely loved this book and everything that it stood for particularly as I read it over the period leading up to Remembrance Sunday.
So pleased it ended as it did too!
The detail in the story was amazing and it took me back to 1921, even though I'm 60 years too young to be there!

Brilliant book. Really enjoyed reading it - the history and the description of how some of those men must have felt. Very topical at this time of year but this showed a different perspective too that can all too easily be pushed aside given its difficult nature.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publishers and the author for an arc copy of this novel.
This historical story takes place between two timelines, during the First World War and the 5 years after. Francis, Harry and Will are three young brothers from England who sign up together and are sent to fight in France. Will is killed in action, Francis is missing presumed dead and Harry, so obviously broken, eventually returns home. He has become a photographer of war graves. Francis's young wife, Edie, doesn't believe that her husband is dead and asks her brother-in-law to find him or find his grave.
The author writes superbly between the timelines and from the different characters viewpoints. The descriptions of the war torn countryside, the battlefields, the sheer scale of WW1 and eventually the descriptions of the cemeteries are so vivid, so real and so emotional I had never known that wives and mothers of the fallen travelled to France searching for proof of their deaths and I found the descriptions of them searching through personal effects and cemeteries heartbreaking.
Caroline Scott has taken a fictional work and placed it into a piece of living history. She has given us a story of heartbreak, grief, the futility and horror of war but most importantly hope.
I read this book over the Armistice weekend which to me made it even more thought provoking and poignant.
'Lest We Forget'

As soon as I read the blurb for this book I knew I had to read it. I love an historical novel but I don’t think I’ve ever read a book set in the aftermath of the First World War before. The story is told from both Harry and Edie’s perspectives, and also re-visits the time leading up to Francis’s disappearance and Harry and Edie’s search to find out what happened.

This is an epic debut novel of forbidden love, loss, and the shattered hearts left behind in the wake of the First World War. I admit to having tears in my eyes as I read this book. I’ve visited some of the First World War Commonwealth War Graves cemeteries and they are incredibly moving places. I enjoyed reading about all the work in the aftermath of the war, how the bodies of the dead were located and all the work done to create these lasting memorials to both the dead and the missing.

It’s a beautiful book, I really couldn’t put it down, and the ending is a complete page turner.

This was hard to read...... not because the writing was poor but because WW1 is so far away that the atrocities suffered by the soldiers and the many, living in absolute degradation and hell holes are easy to conveniently forget. Soldiers who were never heard of again and the family members desperate to find them makes for an emotive story but it is well worth reading!

Every so often, a book comes along that makes me doubt whether I’ll ever be able to write an adequate review – this is, without question, one of those books. I’ve read many books set against the horror of the First World War – I’ve even read some excellent books about the aftermath, the search for the lost and the lasting grief of the survivors – but this powerful book with its finest of writing perhaps moved me more deeply than any other.

The photographer of the title is Harry, the survivor of three brothers, commissioned in 1921 to take photographs for grieving relatives of the graves of the lost – or where the location of their graves might be unknown, as it was for so many, of locations made significant from their last letters. Harry’s journey is dogged by both guilt and vivid memories, as he witnesses the aftermath of the conflict that so tragically affected his life. Edie, the widow of his brother Francis, is on her own journey – triggered by a photograph sent in an envelope with a blurred postmark that gives her hope that her husband may still be alive. The story moves between life at the front during the war and the ruined landscape that remains, the surviving communities, the horrifying scale of the graveyards, the complete obliteration of so much that was there before.

The wartime scenes are some of the most stunning I’ve read – I’d always thought Birdsong was the gold standard in making a reader feel present during a conflict, feeling every emotion of those involved, but I might just have changed my mind. The vividness of the description is exceptional, but I think its power is multiplied because of the strength of the characterisation, the way every individual is drawn in such detail, the way the author enables you to share their sheer terror as the long anticipation becomes stark reality. The book deals in feelings, the unbearable anguish of those who remain, but never veers into mawkishness or sentimentality – that strong characterisation features in the post-war encounters too, every character in their context, their reactions and emotions described in a way you feel at your core.

The book’s atmosphere is one of immense sadness, devastating loss, and overwhelming guilt in the survivors – but with a faint glimmer of hope for the future shimmering in the distance. There’s that central mystery around Francis’ fate that needs resolution – in fact, there’s more than one, as other stories emerge to be explored – and an intensely moving love story: the threads are quite wonderfully handled, the outcomes sometimes unexpected. But what will most stay with me about this book is how it made me feel – the many tears I shed, for the lost, for those who mourned them, and for the many whose lives would never be the same again.

(Review copied to Amazon UK, but link not yet available)

Way, way back when I did my English Literature degree I did a module on World War 1 and its aftermath. I read poetry and fiction that encapsulated the era and it fostered a real love of historical fiction in me. Since then I seem to have read a lot of books about the Second World War but appear to have seriously neglected the period in time before then. This has changed however with my latest read, The Photographer of The Lost by Caroline Scott, a beautiful and sweeping novel set in the early 1920s in England, France and Belgium.

This is both a multi person and dual timeline novel about two people whose lives were changed forever by the Great War. Edie Blythe is living alone in the house which belongs to her husband’s family but is now filled with ghosts, absences and memories. Her husband, Francis went to war with his brothers Harry and Will but only has Harry returned. She opens a door and expects to see her husband or one of his brothers sitting at a table, their photos line the mantelpiece and their bedrooms are waiting for their return. Harry has found himself unable to return home, desperately in love with his late brother’s wife he prefers to roam France and Belgium photographing war graves for the relatives of fallen soldiers. When a photograph of Francis arrives at Edie’s house she is shocked – she saw him a month before he died when he was home on leave and he looks much, much older in the image. Is Francis still alive? If so, where is he and why hasn’t he come home?

What follows is a haunting and beautiful novel where Edie is propelled into action and takes herself to the battlefields of France and Belgium in search of her husband. We watch as she visits towns and villages where her husband and his brothers once fought, she walks down streets which are still strewn with debris from bombing and she passes buildings which still bear the bullet wounds from gun fire. The devastation of the war is laid bare in unflinching detail and it makes for emotional reading.

Interspersed with this are Harry’s chapters where he too is travelling to the same towns and villages. For him though, these visits are to places he has been before. Each corner holds a memory of a time where he and his brothers were hunkered down in a trench as shells and mortar passed over their heads and of the quiet occasions where he would sketch and Francis would take photographs. Harry’s memories and recollections are some of the saddest things I have ever read – they’re almost too sombre to bear.

I was seriously affected by the scale of the devastation and the long lasting effects depicted in the novel. There are lots of references to the length of time it will take to recover, of soldiers still lost, decades of work ahead to unpick the knots and get back to some sort of normality. There are rooms filled with the belongings of soldiers and wives search through box after box of spectacles looking for a pair that may have belonged to their husbands. There are graveyards with white crosses as far as the eye can see and many, many men still missing. I found it unbearable seeing the sadness and devastation and the work undertaken to fix it knowing that in a few years it would happen all over again.

Whilst both Edie and Harry are searching for Francis, they are ultimately looking for themselves too. The war has changed them both and they are yearning for the people they once were. I wanted to hug Harry whose life is spent trying to atone for his actions, wandering the land photographing graveyards and fields. He is lonely, driven by loss and grief and the guilt that he feels for the loving his brother’s wife.

It did take me a little while to get into this book as I found the multi-person and time jumps a little jarring but once I was in I was fully connected. It is hauntingly beautiful and quietly powerful. It needs some dedicated reading time so you can become fully immersed and fall in love with Harry and Edie. It is an accomplished debut which examines a time period that is often overlooked and deftly communicates the scale of loss and sacrifice that was made. I highly recommend it.

It isn’t very often a debut novel comes along that’s so hauntingly beautiful you find it difficult to put your emotions down into words. But The Photographer of the Lost by Caroline Scott is one such book. I was mesmerised from the opening paragraph right through to the incredibly moving and unforgettable conclusion.

It’s 1921 and families are desperately trying to piece together the fragments of their shattered lives. While many survivors of the Great War have been reunited with their loved ones there are many more who have not. Edie’s husband, Francis, has not come home and is considered missing in action. But then Edie receives a photograph in the post, taken of Francis himself, and knows she must take action and try to find him.

Francis’s brother Harry fought alongside him and longs for him to be alive, so they can forgive each other for the last things they ever said. The brothers shared a love of photography and Harry has returned to the Western Front to try to find information on those who are missing or who have died, hired by the grieving families to photograph gravesites and gather news to take back to British wives and mothers. But the one thing he’s searching for most of all is evidence of his brother. As they get closer and closer to the shocking truth, Harry and Edie’s search brings them together in ways they could never have expected.

The Photographer of the Lost is an incredibly moving and vividly portrayed snapshot into the lives of the men who were lost amongst the chaos and ruins of this devastating war. But it’s also the story of those who were left behind, those men and women who were desperate to find their loved ones again. I can’t even begin to put into words the emotional turmoil I went through as I read this book. Caroline Scott has written a book so haunting I know it will stay with me for a long time to come.

The Photographer of the Lost is so much more than a story, it’s a book that brings those lost in World War 1 back to life in brilliant technicolour. They are no longer just characters in a book, they are men made of flesh and blood, who have lives and families, hopes and dreams, most of which were destined never to be fulfilled. It all makes me feel so unbearably sad, an unforgivable loss of what should have been so many bright young futures.

I’ve had a fascination with photographs and photography for as long as I can remember, so Harry was a character I was drawn to from the outset. The title of the book began to make perfect sense as I became fully immersed in the story, and I felt desperately sad for the people who hired him to locate and photograph their loved ones final resting places. His own grief at the loss of his two brothers was also palpable throughout, with the story moving backwards and forwards through time, depicting his life both with and without his lost siblings.

Harry and Edie’s story, when it finally converges, moved me beyond words. This is a book that doesn’t pull its punches and is not one that falls into the trap of over sentimentality at all. Raw, honest and devastatingly real, it’s difficult to find the right words to convey just how incredibly special The Photographer of the Lost is.

Caroline Scott’s debut novel is unlike anything I’ve ever read before and I know it is a book I will go back to again and again. A beautifully written and brutally honest account of a time in history that should never be forgotten, I loved every word of this story that’s full of so many poignant and moving moments that will stay with me forever. Highly recommended.

The Photographer of the Lost is a soulful, poignant, haunting and immersive debut novel. It is a story of sorrow and hope that highlights a part of history rarely remembered; the thousands who simply vanished.

Brothers Francis, Will and Harry all fought together in France during World War I, but Harry was the only one to return home. He carries the guilt of this every day and has never felt able to settle there again. Instead, he travels taking photographs of graves for the families of those killed in action, offering a small crumb of comfort in their time of grief.

Back in England, Francis’s wife, Edie, has accepted her husband is ‘missing presumed dead’. But when she receives an envelope containing a photograph taken by Francis four years after he was last seen, she has a surge of hope and she decides to go to France to search for answers.

Also in France, Harry adds Francis’s name to his list, determined to find his brother’s final resting place. But after hearing about the photograph he starts to wonder if Francis could really be alive, and begins an urgent search for the truth. We follow Edie and Harry as they search for Francis, meeting others also touched by the horrors of war along the way. But, as they begin to unravel the truth, it looks like they will be torn further apart. Can they find answers while also repairing the only link to family they both have left?

This novel was truly breathtaking. The author’s portrayal of the harrowing reality of war, of life in the trenches, how villages and towns were reduced to rubble and left in ruin, and the anguish felt by those who survived, was powerful and profound. But this emotional journey wasn’t just somber, this was also a story about survival, endurance, love and hope. Her writing was full of vivid imagery that made me feel like everything on the page was playing on a movie reel in my mind. The characters each showed optimism and resilience despite all they’ve gone through and illustrated the sheer magnitude of the devastation left behind by war, how everyone you meet will have been touched by some kind of loss. The author wrote with such potency that I felt like I was feeling every trauma they endured and they and their stories will stay with me long after reading.

The Photographer of the Lost is a magnificent and beautifully written piece of historical fiction by an author that is one to watch. A deeply affecting story of love, death, heartbreak and hope, I would highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys this genre.

Thank you to Simon & Schuster UK and NetGalley for the ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

The legacy of war, in this case the First World War, is a theme vividly and movingly explored in The Photographer of the Lost. There are the traumatic memories of conflict and survivor’s guilt of those who came back, like Harry, the lingering absence of those who didn’t, and the unfinished business of those reported missing in action, like Harry’s brother, Francis. Francis’ wife, Edie, joins many thousands of others hoping desperately for some miracle or, at the very least, finding some resolution even if only a grave at which to mourn.

Edie’s search is cleverly connected with the art of photography through Harry’s current occupation, photographing the graves of young men lost in the war as keepsakes for their grieving families and for fiancées who will now never become the wives of their sweethearts. Photographs – what they can and can’t say, the capturing of a likeness or of a moment in time – play an important part in the book. Harry and Edie both attempt to piece together clues from the photographs taken by Francis in order to uncover his story, revealing along the way a tangled web of relationships.

However, alongside the grief of relatives and the wounds – physical and mental – suffered by those who survived, there are signs of hope. For example, as Harry returns to France in 1921 he sees evidence of the rebuilding of villages destroyed in the war and of their inhabitants slowly trying to return to something like normal life. I loved the way this is also reflected in the natural world. ‘There are lines of young, flimsy-looking trees planted around the edges of the cemetery. Beyond them are other trees, bent and blasted, with metal splinters embedded in some of their trunks. They are both ugly and beautiful, these stubborn trees; they are both candid witnesses and resurgent life. New growth breaks from scarred trunks.’

Harry also witnesses those attempting to respect the memories of the fallen through the careful tending of cemeteries or the maintenance of records that might reunite families or at least bring them closure. It’s a timely reminder as we approach Remembrance Day of the horror of war, its lasting impact on nations and individuals, and the efforts of many dedicated individuals to honour the fallen (continued to this day through the work of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.)

The Photographer of the Lost will immerse you in the stories of its characters as they search for answers, for the strength to carry on and for forgiveness. Tissues at the ready, people.

This book is SO poetic in its prose, it’s very rare for me to enjoy books written in present tense in general, but after just simply noting it was in fact in present tense, I never gave that a second thought. It was engrossing, emotional, endearing, so many other awesome e words I’m sure, but really it was just simply amazing.

Harry’s job may seem morbid on paper but he tries to provide answers and closure to those who hire him,. but what he has trouble facing is his own future and feelings, so he turns to them to help blot out what he cannot change or figure out.

Harry lost two brothers during the war, his eldest brother also being Edie’s husband. One day Edie receives a photograph of her MIA presumed dead husband, and it brings the past hurtling forward while throwing the future up in the air, tilting everything on its side.

This book was a journey, a spiritual and, as I said already, emotional one.

The perspectives shift, Harry and Edie at various point during and after the war. There’s loss, grief at its rawest form, and love in perhaps its most vulnerable form.

What an amazing moving story. I loved the fact that we went from chapters covering the war period, to the present day for both Harry and Edie - everything was so beautifully entwined.
The graphic war details pulled at my heart as I could feel the characters and the scenery with all the horrific descriptions. The book was not an easy read as it was so horrific but it was needless to say a very compelling book that I had to keep on reading to find out the truth about Francis.
Caroline has done so much research to manage to produce a book that gets into this depth of emotions and activities and I admire her for this piece of artful literature. I should add that this story is written in the most empathetic way describing the horrors of war, the emotions and camaraderie of the soldiers as well as the losses to the families left behind.
Thank you Net Galley and Simon & Schuster for granting me the privilege to read this story.

It's hard to find the word to review this book because it's haunting, heartbreaking and it's one those story that remains in your mind.
It's about family, relationship, and the suffering of a lot families that had no news of their relatives that went missing during the war.
The writer is a master storyteller and it's amazing how well she describes this less known moment of the afterworld. There's a lot of food for thought and I learnt a lot about this less known part of the European history.
The character development is amazing, the characters are fleshed out and you can feel their emotional turmoil and cannot help rooting for them.
I think that the writer did an excellent job at describing the historical background which is well researched and masterfully described.
An amazing read, a book you have to read slowly to saviour every word. I strongly recommend it.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

The Photographer of the Lost is certainly an impressive début from Caroline Scott. It's a haunting read, of one families search for answers following the loss of their loved one during World War One. This book forces us to think of the after effects of war not just contemplate what happened during the war years. How do people move on when they have no answers? How can they pick up the pieces if a piece of them will always be missing? Fragments of them scattered across the battlefields many to remain nameless and unaccounted for.

From the opening page, this is a very atmospheric read with a sombre tone which befits the themes. The writing is so lyrical and descriptive that a beautifully crafted story is soon emerging from the pages. The pace may be slow but this is a story that cannot be rushed, stick with it and it will bear fruit. The truth takes time to emerge as the main protagonists make their way through the areas where so many men lost their lives. As they slowly start to merge and get ever closer to each other, things become known that change everything. But they cannot go back they must go forward and attempt to leave the ghosts of the past behind for if they do not they will remain in a limbo never being able to discover the solace, answers and peace they so desperately crave.

In May 1921, three years after the conclusion of World War One, Edie receives a letter from France. Inside is a photograph of Francis, her husband, one of the many unaccounted for - missing presumed dead. This photo throws her, leaving her unable to function. Who sent this letter and why? Was it Francis? Is he somehow alive and has been unable to contact his family? Is there a chance she will see the man she misses so dearly? On the other hand does she want to see the man who was not the man she married when he last returned home on leave? So many questions and many more rush through her head. She knows she needs definitive answers in order to quash the maelstrom that has erupted inside her upon opening the letter.

Edie decides to travel to France to see what she can find out. She is treading a path that so many soldiers walked before her but instead now she is part of a group that are the family members of those lost wandering the areas seeking answers and confirmation. She travels solo but always longing to be with those she loves. There are endless women searching gravesides in the hopes of finding their loved one but whilst that grave remains elusive, and with the photo burning a hole in her pocket, there can always be that little glimmer of hope that Francis is alive. Contrasted with that glimmer of hope there is a tone of uncertainty that makes for many sombre, reflective and contemplative moments throughout the book. The reader is made to stop and think even further as to the hardships, loss, grief and anger that so many families experienced post war.

As we follow Edie on her mission to seek closure and move forward we also meet Harry, brother to Francis and Will. He was the one who survived the war when so many did not and this guilt eats away at him, even more so when he too can't find the answers as to what happened to Francis. As we journey with him all the pent up emotions that cannot come spilling forth during war time come pouring out. All those feelings he had pushed deep down begin to arise and we are given an insight into his war experiences with his brothers.

But Harry has not returned to France in the same way that Edie has. No he has a job and is employed by families who wish to have photographic evidence as to their loved ones last known whereabouts or if possible their grave. He is the photographer of the lost, the title of this book. Such few words that strike up so much imagery in the readers head. When Harry hears news of the photo Edie has received and that she too is somewhere in France it takes him back to the times when he was with his brothers preparing to do battle or even marching from one village to the next never knowing what danger would lurk around every corner. But now France has become a desolate place and one of pain for so many.

Interspersed with Edie in France in 1921, and Harry too as he journeys from place to place ticking off assignments for loved ones on his list, are chapters set during the war. Harry takes the reader back to a time where anxiety and fear existed every minute of every waking hour. How himself and his brothers did their best to stay together but the more war progressed the more they each became deeply affected by what they were witnessing. It affected each of them in different ways and lead to varying consequences for all three. These chapters showed the stark contrast of Harry's war experiences and how he is now left to photograph the graves of the lost. Little did he know as he accepted this task that his own brother would soon become someone on the list.

At times I felt there was an awful lot of detail regarding various people Harry met and interacted with during his time spent fighting. Names of various fellow army officials and comrades kept cropping up and I wondered why was it necessary to go into so much detail as at times I thought it did detract from the story. But over time and as I neared the end of the book it was like the mist lifting from in front of my eyes and things slowly began to make sense. That every little nugget of information surplus to the novel or so I thought at the time did actually make sense. That really Caroline Scott had put such thought into every word, sentence, character and setting and she knew exactly where she was taking her readers. Don't be complacent at any time reading this story as every little aspect of it is vital in building up the overall picture until several startling discoveries are made.

The tone remains sombre and slow throughout but as I neared the final chapters things picked up pace as the various strands of the story started to weave together. Several chapters ended on cliffhangers and the next chapter would take us back to perhaps Edie when all you wanted to read about was Harry. Yes for me this was frustrating but that was simply in part because I was getting so anxious and dying to know the overall outcome. Never did I think the eventual reveal would be what it turned out to be and it showed what a gifted storyteller the author is. I felt I had been lured into a false sense of security or that maybe such a thing would happen but no it was a surprising revelation which really made the whole book come full circle and lots of things finally made sense.

What really struck me throughout the book as Edie and Harry travelled separately but at some stage they had to meet was the silence and stillness as they went from towns and villages to grave sites and more. That France was sleeping following witnessing and absorbing such brutality and horrors and that with all these people arriving to seek answers would it only stir up memories that are been attempted to be quashed before the country can move on? But yet in pockets there are men attempting to maintain the upkeep of grave sites so those won't be forgotten. It is a time of change for everyone and the story makes us question how do those who remain and have no answers attempted to move on when the past is calling them back?

The Photographer of the Lost is an ideal read for a book club as it raises so many questions. In fact it probably raises more than there are answers to. In the end a question is raised whether the subject matter is too distant or is it relevant for the reader in today's society? I think it is more relevant than ever considering all the unrest we are experiencing but it also reminds never ever to forget those that went before us and did so much and sacrificed everything so that events could not be repeated. Sadly they are reoccurring and maybe those men over 100 years ago would be feeling now that all their efforts were in vain. So many books focus on the time during the war so it was refreshing if a stark reminder to see that once war was declared over that it did not end there instead its affects lingered on for so many and the trauma at what happened and what people witnessed changed their lives and the way they thought forever.

Guilt, unfulfilled responsibilities, failure of duties and the way memory plays ticks on us are some of the many themes explored in this fascinating story which will make us remember and hopefully teach us lessons for our own times. The Photographer of the Lost is a stunning read which if this is the calibre of Caroline Scott's writing now I can only imagine what she will bring us in the future. A book definitely not to be missed.

The Photographer Of The Lost was a book that I couldn’t wait to read. I knew it would upset me, books like this always do, but I was upset for different reasons than I expected. The story about those who want to find missing service men is one I knew would affect me, families desperate for answers about husbands and sons who they knew deep down had lost their lives and wanted to see their resting place. For proof and some form of closure.

It is something, to my shame, that I had never given much though too. It is easier to think that it concerned just a handful of people, but the author shows how many thousands of families never had their answers. The other thing I never really thought about was the rebuilding of the communities after the war. You often see images of the trenches on the news, followed by images of the pristine cemeteries. I have never seen anything about the time when houses and churches were being rebuilt, the cemeteries being prepared. All with respect, dignity and pride by local men.

Many things will stay with me. The nightmares experienced by Harry, his siblings and friends lost. The pride of the workmen and ex service men who were trying their best. And the description of a recently abandoned home that still had a vase of fresh flowers.

Absolutely stunning, The Photographer Of The Lost is one of the best books I have read this year.

Graphic illustration of the damage left behind after war. In the aftermath of the first world war, one of three brothers has survived and returns to France to photograph war graves for grieving families. One of his brothers was missing, presumed dead - will he find him? And what else will he discover...
A moving and harrowing account of what happens to those who survive war. Well worth reading.

There are so many books written about the First World War, but very few which describe what was left after the war ended. This was a fascinating read, with vivid descriptions of early 1920s France and the devastation left there. Concentrating mainly on those who were bereaved: mothers, fiancées, sisters, brothers, children, fathers- all who want an idea of where there lived one perished. Harry, a survivor, has now returned to France to take photographs of towns, villages and graves for grieving relatives, whilst also searching for his brothers resting places. This novel follows a dual timeline of 1916-17 and 1920, telling the story of Harry and his brothers during the war and then of Harry and the people he meets amongst the wreckage in France. Beautifully written, this novel allows the reader to walk in the steps of Harry and the bereaved people he meets, who are searching for any record of their loved one. The First World War was a truly terrible war, with so many men lost with no known grave. As a relative would you be able to accept that or would you want to set off for France to try and find them? This is a book that really made me think.

In 1921 the Great War still casts a shadow over the world. Many of those who fought either simply failed to return home after the war ended or their remains lay undiscovered or unidentified. Their families are trapped unable to properly grieve and move forward. Edie, married to Francis - one of those believed to have been killed in action but not yet identified, travels to France to find his remains whilst Francis's brother, Harry, is working as a photographer capturing the last place the dead or missing men were seen for their families. Harry fought alongside Francis and a third brother, Will, and carries not only survivor's guilt but another more explosive secret.

The story is told from the viewpoints of two characters, Edie and Harry, and moves back and forth from 1921 to the heat of battle in 1916. It is beautifully written with the battle scenes being evocative of the horrors and terrors of war, and the rest conveying what it must have been like to have been a family member desperately waiting for news that never came. (It is a sad fact that the remains of thousands of WWI soldiers who died in action have never been found or identified.) I was totally immersed in the two characters, willing them to finally find peace and move on with their lives. It would make an excellent TV mini-series. A thoroughly deserved 4 and a half stars.

Thanks to NetGalley and publishers, Simon & Schuster UK, for the opportunity to read an ARC.

The Photographer of the Lost follows a WW1 war veteran, in 1921, on his visits to France and Belgium photographing war graves, memorials and scenes of battles etc as requested by those who mourn lost loved ones. Harry survived the War but lost two brothers one of whom, Frances, is simply recorded as "missing presumed dead". He, like his customers, would like to know more about Frances' end as would Edie his sister in law who grieves for her lost husband.
This book provides a sensitive insight into aspects of the lives of those who mourn and seek understanding and comfort.: those like Harry who having survived feel guilt; for women like Edie who grieving is given perhaps false hope when she receives a photo of Frances from France but with no indication as to who sent it. Could it be Frances himself, alive and living in France? Her search for truth is with both hope and apprehension.
Raw emotions are exposed by their searches whilst grieving and seeking certainty so they can rebuild their lives and move on. Harry and Edie have a genuine fondness for one another. But could it be allowed to flourish or would this dishonour the brother/husband?
Thousands in Britain must have been facing similar traumas following the War but are rarely mentioned or their plight remembered. This book provides an important and timely reminder that all conflicts throw up similar issues. The Photographer of the Lost is well written and provides much to think about. It may encourage us to show greater sympathy and compassion towards those who suffer through no fault of their own.

I recommend this book.

Beautifully and sensitively written The Photographer of the Lost is at its heart a love story and of course about rememberance. Poignant, captivating, thought provoking and heartbreaking in equal measure I found myself wrapped up in the lives of brothers in arms, Francis, Will and Harry.
Narrated by Harry, and Francis wife Edie, the timeline switches between past experiences of the brothers during the war and the present day. Harry is the photographer of the lost, his task to find the graves of soldiers and capture their last resting place as a way to perhaps bring closure for their families and loved ones. Edie is one of those people seeking closure for she isn’t convinced her husband Francis is dead, having received a photograph of him sent anonymously in the post. She represents all those who learned their loved ones were missing, believed killed.
Both Harry and Edie have complicated reasons for discovering whether Francis did survive the war or is just yet another unknown soldier left without a grave. Whilst never properly acknowledged, their love for each other is implicit in their letters, Harry’s sketches and Edie’s visit to Harry whilst in hospital. This isn’t some sordid love triangle for neither have acted upon these feelings.
For me this novel speak volumes about love, loss, guilt and remembrance as well as the fact everyone was a casualty of this war whether they survived or not. Imagining the terrors these men suffered on the battlefield and beyond is incomprehensible to later generations as is the difficulty for those who survived to move on with their lives. The author writes so eloquently about that fine line between remembering and life carrying on which Harry and Edie struggle with immensely. Is there a point at which we need to stop??
The setting is crucial to this novel. The descriptions of the landscape during the war and after plus those of the cemeteries Harry and Edie visit made me feel I was there alongside these characters, evoking yet again the feelings of loss and futility of war. I could almost smell the fear and hopelessness that pervade much of the writing.
I have to say this book exceeded my expectations and will stay with me for a long time. This for me is historical fiction at its best. Highly recommend and could see this as a wonderful tear jerker of a film.
Thanks as always to the author and publisher and Netgalley for allowing me to read in exchange for an honest review.