I have no doubt that Wake is going to be included in my Top Ten books of 2014, I know that it's only January, but this is a book that has had a huge effect on me. The writing is sublime, but the story is one of horror and shame, and of ordinary people whose lives were left devastated by what was supposed to be 'the war to end all wars.' Told over just five days and ending on Armistice Day - November 11 1920, Wake is a portrait of the lives of three women; Hettie, Evelyn and Ada. Each of these women bear the scars of the the great war, and each of them are trying to deal with life in London that has changed forever. As the reader learns about the women, we are also following the journey home of the Unknown Warrior - an unnamed solider, taken from the trenches of France and being brought home to rest in London. As we enter 2014, a hundred years on from the beginning of World War I, it is only to be expected that there will be many books published this year to commemorate the event. Wake is one of those, but does not focus on the war years themselves. Wake looks at the lives left behind, the women who waved goodbye to their sons, fathers, brothers and lovers, some of them never welcomed them home again. Some of them welcomed home a changed man, a man who would never speak of his experiences, a man who will never be able to support his family again, a man who was left crushed and broken by what he saw in France. Hettie spends her days at the Palais, selling dances with strangers for sixpence a day, and dreaming of bigger and brighter places. Evelyn punishes herself by working in the pensions office, every day seeing the aftermath of war as bruised and broken men queue up for assistance. Ada sees her dead son Michael everywhere, but struggles to speak to her husband. Although at first these three woman appear to be completely separate, it becomes clear that they are linked together by events that took place many miles away on the battlefields and in the trenches. Wake is powerful and evocative, it is a tender but at the same time, brutal look at the aftermath of war. Anna Hope's writing flows with such ease, her use of prose and descriptions are beautiful and haunting

I really enjoyed this atmospheric and poignant novel about the effect the losses of the Great War had on the lives of British citizens and its soldiers. I liked the interesting and varied main characters, particularly Evelyn and her initial distain for almost everything which is gradually revealed to be rooted in her loss. Ada's story too is touching, both in terms of her struggle to come to terms with the fact that her son is not returning, but also the effect this has on her relationship with her husband. The writing is excellent and the way in which the lives of the three main characters was linked was clever. This book will appeal to anyone who has an interest in the aftermath and emotional trauma of WWI and its strength lies in describing literally and psychologically what life in Britain may have been like for both citizens coming to terms with unimaginable losses and those soldiers 'lucky' enough to survive, left to deal with the anguish that what they have witnessed causes them.

Fiction about war is one of my favourite kinds. Authors rarely fail to produce a fresh perspective of historic events even though they are so regularly written about. Wake, by Anna Hope, is another example of how we can never know all there is to know about either of the world wars. There are always new opinions, intriguing characters that provide a different approach and backdrops varying from the front to cosy villages. Anna Hope’s novel is set during 1920 when the soldier is chosen for the grave of the “unknown warrior” in Westminster Abbey, London. I have seen the memorial site and heard it referred to regularly, yet I’ve never taken the time to think about who the soldier was, where he came from and the process of bringing him to the Abbey. Not only did this story inform me immensely about this unknown aspect of the conclusion of World War One, but it, again, made me appreciate how I now had something else to add to my knowledge. Of course, it is fiction and so can’t be relied upon for 100% historical accuracy, but the mere idea of a soldier having to be selected made me reconsider what I already knew. Wake is a little confusing initially due to the introduction of various viewpoints. It takes a little while to remember who is who, but having various perspectives allows for a broader scope of story, which I thoroughly enjoyed. With so many stories focusing on war-time action, there is next to nothing that considers what the world was like at the conclusion of war. That is why Anna Hope’s novel is a refreshing take on these events. We imagine delight at war’s end, when, instead, families were permanently having to adapt to life without loved ones, soldiers had to cope with the long-lasting effect of their wounds and the politics that meant they only had a limited amount of money provided by the state. The war may have been four years in length, however the effects went far beyond that. There could have been so many endings, but it was the ambiguity that I really appreciated. Without tying up all the loose threads in a clichéd manner, there was space for personal opinion. I felt as if the author was saying that just because the story ends, just as war ends, that’s not the absolute conclusion . There is more than what we read about and what we see. War has far-reaching implications off of the page.

Wake is a story set over 5 days in November 1920. The body of the Unknown Warrior is being bought home from the battlefields of France to London and to his final resting place in Westminster Abbey. A memorial that will symbolise all those killed in the war who have no known grave. The stories of the three women at first appear random but all are connected by events which took place on the battlefield. Ada, a mother whose son Michael died in France although she has never received any letter notifying of his burial place. Ada has never come to terms with her son’s death and has no body to bury nor a grave to visit. Visions of Michael still haunt her and although she knows he has gone, there is still a tiny part of her who believes that he may one day walk through the door. Her marriage is suffering as she feels unable to talk to her husband, she is so consumed with thoughts of her son. Hettie, a young woman who dances for sixpence a dance at the Hammersmith Palais. She too has seen at first hand the brutal side of war. Her brother Fred has returned from the front a broken man. She lives at home with her mother and shell shocked brother but has hopes and dreams of a better and happier life. Finally, there is Evelyn; a young woman with a privileged background who lost her lover. From working at a munitions factory to now helping wounded and broken men at the Pensions Exchange, Evelyn seems to have the hardest heart and to be the most bitter of the three women. Evelyn’s brother Edward Montfort fought as a captain and has his own demons to face. This was an extremely well written and incredibly moving story, particularly following the journey home of the unknown soldier – although I knew of this I didn’t know the background in any detail and found this really interesting. Although the novel features the brutality of the war and tells the story through minor characters of fighting in the trenches, it is our three women who dominate – we see how they and others like them are struggling to come to terms with how their life has changed both during and after the war - and how the men who returned had their own struggles to survive, so many of whom were terribly damaged, both physically and mentally. This is an exceptional debut novel which has received so many enthusiastic 5* reviews but although I can appreciate the excellent writing and there was much that I found moving and poignant I didn’t love it quite as much as everyone else and I can’t put my finger on exactly why. There were times when I felt disengaged from the story and I frequently mixed up Hettie and Evelyn’s characters and had to re-read sections. Of the three women, I found my sympathy lay mostly with Ada – I’m sorry to say that Evelyn left me cold and Hettie didn’t really make much of a lasting impression. My rating would be 4 out of 5* - it wasn’t a perfect book for me but I‘m very glad to have had the opportunity to read it.