Fall of Poppies

there is something for every reader.

Over the years I’ve had many chances to read collections, but fewer are available in Historical Romance, fewer still that have a focus of the years surrounding World War 1. Nine authors have come together to produce short stories that deal with love, loss and moving on after a world-shaking event.

Each story arrives and is completely engrossing: drawing you into the world and the struggles: a mixed group with perspectives from a single mother, an artist, the soldiers, a woman recounting her story from long ago, old photographs, domestic strife in Ireland. Cleverly mixing depressing and disturbing with notes of hopefulness and the sense of impending change as the world moves into the Roaring 20’s, as the characters work to accept the past and find a reason to move forward.

While some stories are notable for a hopeful nature, others present facts and tidbits of information that readers may not have known: each brings the story to completion in ways that may seem improbable or far-fetched, yet completely fitting to the characters involved. Moments run the range of emotion: and I was pulled in to see and understand choices, struggles and options for each. Overall this was a sold collection that introduced some new to me authors and presented others who have long been favorites. Favorites included The Record Set Straight by Lauren Willig for the depth of emotion and looking back on opportunities lost and gained. Something Worth Landing For by Jennifer Brockmole mixed a marriage of convenience, a secondary family struggle and the gradual transition of a relationship to one of need.

Alternating between hopeful and melancholy, never glossing over the struggles that each character has faced, and a wonderful story in All For the Love of You by Jennifer Robson, where soldiers with facial injuries from the war find some relief and healing in prosthetic masks. Something I didn’t have knowledge of before, yet presented in such a way that I could see and understand the soldier’s transformations.

If you appreciate a wide range of stories and characters all set in a similar time, one that highlights the resilience of the human spirit, this is the collection for you. With the ability to sample several different authors, and find a wide range of emotionally present stories, there is something for every reader.

I received an eArc copy of the title from the publisher via Edelweiss for purpose of honest review. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility.