News of Our Loved Ones by Abigail DeWitt #newsofourlovedones @ADeWittauthor #harperbooks #wartime #france #usa #dday #edelweiss @absltmom

and I am thankful for all of those who so bravely fought for me to have the freedom I now enjoy!

The tragedy of war leaves its remnants upon people long after the war has ceased. A World War II novel always bring into focus all the lives lost, the lands destroyed, and the people who were left behind. In the book News of Our Loved Ones, that tragedy is explored as we are introduced to the Delasalle family and the trauma they were exposed to while living in Normandy during the war.

The village in which the family resided was overtaken by the Nazis. They witness the terrors of the war, their Jewish neighbors being taken away, and their lives changing daily as they tried to adjust to the occupation hoping that soon rescue and relief would come to them. Can they live long enough with the bombings taking place almost daily to witness the freeing of their country and their village.

The story moves to years later when Geneviève, the sister of one of the characters and the wife of an American musician, returns each summer to France. She brings her wartime feelings and as her daughter, Polly learns more about the times of war, she feels she can begin to understand a mother that always has seemed distant to her. Links to the past are what drives her and often we see how those this affect the very person we ultimately become.

Told through the interchanging of time periods, this story is slow moving and brings up the devastation that war bring onto families. At times, this flipping back and forth between generations made for a somewhat hard to follow scenario for me. However, this book was wonderfully written and again brought forward the desolation and havoc that the winds of war bring onto families. They, these winds, never leave but rustle through lives leaving behind loss and ruin.

Thank you to Abigail DeWitt, Harper Books, and Edelweiss for a copy of this book.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4577194/D-Day-photos-colourised-73-years-landings.html

Abigail DeWitt is the author of three novels: Lili, Dogs, and News of Our Loved Ones. Her short fiction has appeared in Five Points, Witness, the Alaska Quarterly Review, the Carolina Quarterly, and elsewhere. She has been cited in Best American Short Stories, nominated for a Pushcart, and has received grants and fellowships from the North Carolina Arts Council, the Tyrone Guthrie Center, the McColl Center for the Arts, and the Michener Society.