Book Review: The Soldier's Wife by Pamela Hart

Title: The Soldier's Wife
Author: Pamela Hart
Published: October 8th 2015 by Piatkus
Amazon | Amazon UK


Blurb: Newlyweds Ruby and Jimmy Hawkins are sure their love will survive the trauma and tragedy of war. Amid the desperate battles raging in Gallipoli, Jimmy dreams of the future they planned together. In Sydney, Ruby reads his romantic letters full of love and longing.

But as weeks slip into months Ruby must forge her own new life. When she takes a job at a city timber merchant's yard, she is thrown into a man's world fraught with complications. And as the lives of those around her begin to shatter, Ruby must change if she is to truly find her way. Is she still the same woman Jimmy fell in love with?

Inspired by the true story of the author's own family history, THE SOLDIER'S WIFE is a heart-soaring story of passion, love and loss and learning how to live when all you hold dear is threatened.

First of all I would like to thank the publisher for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.*

Review: The first thing that caught my attention when I read the blurb for The Soldier's Wife was that it was the first book I had ever seen set in Australia during World War Two. I have read many books set during WWII but always in Europe or America, I know what happened to those people who fought and to those women who were home trying to build their homes, towns and countries again but I have never thought what happened in Australia back then. Their men also fought this incredible unfair war but what was going on in that country so far away?

And this is exactly the aspect of the book I enjoyed the most. Reading about newly wed Ruby and how she tried to survive without her husband Jimmy while he fought. But not only about her, about all the other women who fought their own battles with children to feed and also about the men who didn't go to war, because they were too old, too sick or because they helped with their jobs from home. I think Pamela Hart wrote about a lot more that what they did. She also wrote about how they all felt, how they lived the war with the few news they got from their loved ones, how the atmosphere was always full of nerves, waiting for that telegram with bad news... 

Ruby was a really interesting character. During the book I could see her growing as a person and as a character. She started being a naive girl from the country who arrived at the city with no idea what live or love was. But soon she had to start earning her own living, entering a men's world. She had to learn how to defend herself and make herself be heard. She became a strong woman that other respected and followed and I felt really proud of her.

The only thing I didn't enjoy that much was the actual love story. When Jimmy left for war, they had been together only a few months and only one week married and their plans for the future were simple. But war changed them both and they couldn't really accept that their were no longer that couple who had been so in love. Maybe their story needed more twists, but there was something missing there.

All in all, The Soldier's Wife was an interesting read. It gives a new point of view of WWII we are not familiar with and it has a strong main female character that makes you want to keep reading. 

Rating: 

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2 comentaris

  1. This sounds like an interesting book. I've never read any WWII era books set in Australia either. Adding this to my list for sure.
    Nice review.

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