I do love my historical fiction although I am more used to reading about medieval kings and queens, but I was loaned this copy of The Lie, set during and after World War I.

Daniel has returned from the First World War and is haunted by the things he has seen and the friends he has lost. He appears to be quite happy in his solitude with his old friend, Frederick, never far from his thoughts. Frederick never made it back from the war and Daniel soon finds himself spending time with Frederick's sister, Felicia. They keep Frederick's memory alive as the reminisce about old times.

Daniel's thoughts often return to the dreadful conditions in the trenches and we are given glimpses into what life was like for a 'Tommy' on The Front. Daniel also has his personal demons to overcome and his guilt and deep personal loss surrounding Frederick's death.

I really expected to love this book but I neither loved it nor hated it. I just didn't experience any positive or negative feelings as I progressed through the book. I should have been crying my eyes out at the end but unfortunately I hadn't built up any feelings for Daniel at all.

It's not a bad little book for a weekend, but it isn't a book I would recommend. It has not, however, put me off reading other Helen Dunmore books and I will be sure to take a look should one cross my path again. ( )

This is the first book I have read by this author and I am glad I have more waiting on my shelves.
The book starts with Daniel Branwell's return home after World War I. His mother has died while he was away and he returns to a shack on a neighbouring, elderly widow's property. He tends her garden and livestock and when she falls ill, he stays by her side. She does not want medical attention nor help nor interference from the local community, who had shunned her during her life. On her death bed she bequeaths her property to Daniel provided he buries her on her land. Having become so used to burying bodies during the war, Daniel is happy to oblige. When locals enquire as to the whereabouts of Mary he says she has been ill but is recovering.
Daniel suffers nightmares of his war experiences and carries guilt relating to the death of his childhood friend. His sister still lives close by and seeks Daniel out. she was also widowed during the war and renews her friendship with Daniel. He, eventually confides in Felicia, the truth about Mary. However the local community become suspicious and Daniel is forced to flee.
Through Daniel's reflections the author vividly portrays the horrors and comradeship of the first World War.
I loved this book and couldn't wait to return to it. ( )

A poignant, gut-wrenching tale of love, loss, and survivor’s guilt, this novel tells the story of the young Cornishman Daniel Branwell as he returns home after the horrors of the First World War. Daniel is alive. That in itself is enough to weigh him down with a sense of unworthiness, as he struggles to fit back into a community that now seems complacent, careless and shallow. It seems foolish even to try. Always the odd one out, Daniel now becomes a recluse, keeping away from the town and taking up home in an old shelter on the land of the widowed Mary Pascoe. Deeply traumatised by what he has witnessed in France, he tries to bring some normality back into his days by digging and sowing and tending Mary Pascoe’s modest crops. And, when the old woman falls ill, with no hope of recovery, she offers to leave her cottage and plot to Daniel on one condition: that he bury her out on the hillside, away from the regimented primness of the graveyard. Daniel agrees and then, as the boundary between life and death seems less important to him than it did before, he simply carries on. He tells no one that Mary Pascoe has died. Instead, fiercely private and protective, he fends off their interest by telling them that she’s ill inside and he’s taking care of her. It begins as a little white lie. But lies have a power of their own...

For the full review, please see my blog:
https://theidlewoman.net/2017/08/19/the-lie-helen-dunmore/ ( )

After the Great War, Daniel returns to his childhood village but nothing is the same any more and everything that he experienced during the war lives with him still. As a somebody who never quite fit in, he's now out of place in different ways, and unable to get over one conventional war-time lie and another that instead of giving him a moment of peace grows out of control. I enjoyed reading this book. ( )

This novel concerns the life of a young Cornish man, Daniel Branwell, in 1920, after returning from the trenches of the Western Front. He is racked by guilt over the death there of his childhood friend Frederick, the son of the local wealthy engineer, who employed Daniel's mother as his cleaner before the war and until her early death. Daniel is rootless and is invited to live in a makeshift shelter on the land of a solitary old lady, Mary Pascoe. He looks after her as she grows ill and then, at her dying request, he takes over her cottage and buries her on the land she loved. He continues to be haunted by the ghost of Frederick, and the associated smell of the mud and death of the trenches, even as he tries to renew his acquaintance with Frederick's sister Felicia, who now has a young daughter, her husband having also not returned from the war. This novel is very well written, but is not for those looking for a fast paced narrative. The eponymous "lie" seems to refer both to Daniel's guilt over the death of Frederick, whom he thinks he abandoned, and to his deceit over the whereabouts of Mary after he took over her cottage. The ending is suitably ambiguous, though I found it a little abrupt. ( )