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The Verdun Affair
A sweeping, romantic, and profoundly moving novel, set in Europe in the aftermath of World War I and Los Angeles in the 1950s, about a lonely young man, a beautiful widow, and the amnesiac soldier whose puzzling case binds them together even as it tears them apart.
In 1920, two young Americans meet in Verdun, the city in France where one of the most devastating battles of the war was waged. Tom is an orphan from Chicago, a former ambulance driver now gathering bones from the battlefield; Sarah is an expatriate from Boston searching for the husband who wandered off from his division and hasn’t been seen since. Quickly, the two fall into a complicated affair against the ghostly backdrop of the ruined city. Months later, Sarah and Tom meet again at the psychiatric ward of an Italian hospital, drawn there by the appearance of a mysterious patient the doctors call Douglas Fairbanks (after the silent film actor) — a shell-shocked soldier with no memory of who he is. At the hospital, Tom and Sarah are joined by Paul, an Austrian journalist with his own interest in the amnesiac.
Each is keeping a secret; each has been shaken by the horrors of war. Decades later, Tom, now a successful screenwriter, encounters Paul by chance in LA, still grappling with the questions raised by this gorgeous and incisive novel: How to begin again after unfathomable trauma? How to love after so much loss? And who, in the end, was Douglas Fairbanks?
From the bone-strewn fields of Verdun to the bombed-out cafés of Paris, from the riot-torn streets of Bologna to the riotous parties of 1950s Hollywood, The Verdun Affair is a riveting tale of romance, grief, and the far-reaching consequences of a single lie.
In 1920, two young Americans meet in Verdun, the city in France where one of the most devastating battles of the war was waged. Tom is an orphan from Chicago, a former ambulance driver now gathering bones from the battlefield; Sarah is an expatriate from Boston searching for the husband who wandered off from his division and hasn’t been seen since. Quickly, the two fall into a complicated affair against the ghostly backdrop of the ruined city. Months later, Sarah and Tom meet again at the psychiatric ward of an Italian hospital, drawn there by the appearance of a mysterious patient the doctors call Douglas Fairbanks (after the silent film actor) — a shell-shocked soldier with no memory of who he is. At the hospital, Tom and Sarah are joined by Paul, an Austrian journalist with his own interest in the amnesiac.
Each is keeping a secret; each has been shaken by the horrors of war. Decades later, Tom, now a successful screenwriter, encounters Paul by chance in LA, still grappling with the questions raised by this gorgeous and incisive novel: How to begin again after unfathomable trauma? How to love after so much loss? And who, in the end, was Douglas Fairbanks?
From the bone-strewn fields of Verdun to the bombed-out cafés of Paris, from the riot-torn streets of Bologna to the riotous parties of 1950s Hollywood, The Verdun Affair is a riveting tale of romance, grief, and the far-reaching consequences of a single lie.
320 pages, Paperback
First published June 12, 2018
358 people are currently reading
7570 people want to read
About the author
Nick Dybek
8 books109 followersNick Dybek is a recipient of a Granta New Voices selection, a Michener-Copernicus Society of America Award, and a Maytag Fellowship. He received a BA from the University of Michigan and an MFA from The Iowa Writers’ Workshop. He teaches at Oregon State University. He is the author of When Captain Flint Was Still a Good Man and The Verdun Affair.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 189 reviews
June 11, 2018
3.5 stars .
I don’t remember reading a book and feeling as if I could actually hear the voice of the narrator. This was not an audio version of the book. I read it, yet the voice of the narrator spoke to me as if I was hearing a narrator of an old movie, quiet and melancholic. His name is Tom, an American, orphaned as a young boy, who lived in Verdun in the aftermath of WWI and now in 1950 Los Angeles. Collecting bones, a somber, gruesome task, sad with visions of who they might be, what happened to them. Of course I immediately became interested in the history of Verdun and discovered how realistic the portrayal is. Widows seeking their missing husbands, mothers and fathers looking for their sons, sisters looking for their brothers- going to the priest with threads of hope as Tom collects bones for the Ossiary the church is building. The family imaginings and hopes are encouraged by the priests and Tom. Enter Sarah, an American woman searching for her missing husband and the inevitable connection between them happens. A third character, Paul on his own mission which didn’t grab me. The story moves around from Verdun to Paris to Bologna in the aftermath of the war alternating with another time 30 years later in 1950 Los Angeles.
There is haunting, beautiful writing, but with a slow burn to an ending that left me without a clear outcome or was it plain as day? I had a difficult time rating this book, but there was something about it that I can’t quite describe that moved me and had me thinking that the casualties of war are not just those dead and physically injured. A book that I think could be easily translated to the screen.
I received an advanced copy of this book from Scribner through NetGalley and Edelweiss.
I don’t remember reading a book and feeling as if I could actually hear the voice of the narrator. This was not an audio version of the book. I read it, yet the voice of the narrator spoke to me as if I was hearing a narrator of an old movie, quiet and melancholic. His name is Tom, an American, orphaned as a young boy, who lived in Verdun in the aftermath of WWI and now in 1950 Los Angeles. Collecting bones, a somber, gruesome task, sad with visions of who they might be, what happened to them. Of course I immediately became interested in the history of Verdun and discovered how realistic the portrayal is. Widows seeking their missing husbands, mothers and fathers looking for their sons, sisters looking for their brothers- going to the priest with threads of hope as Tom collects bones for the Ossiary the church is building. The family imaginings and hopes are encouraged by the priests and Tom. Enter Sarah, an American woman searching for her missing husband and the inevitable connection between them happens. A third character, Paul on his own mission which didn’t grab me. The story moves around from Verdun to Paris to Bologna in the aftermath of the war alternating with another time 30 years later in 1950 Los Angeles.
There is haunting, beautiful writing, but with a slow burn to an ending that left me without a clear outcome or was it plain as day? I had a difficult time rating this book, but there was something about it that I can’t quite describe that moved me and had me thinking that the casualties of war are not just those dead and physically injured. A book that I think could be easily translated to the screen.
I received an advanced copy of this book from Scribner through NetGalley and Edelweiss.
February 2, 2018
Love a good work of historical fiction and nothing makes quite for the same sort of drama as war times. This one had just about all of the right ingredients for a veritable literary feast…it was well researched, well composed, had the right amount of dramatic tautness, a mystery, a love story…and yet left the reader wanting or, to continue with the metaphor, hungry. It’s always so strange when something so obviously well done just doesn’t quite work and it can be difficult to narrow down the exact reason, but here it seems to be the general tone, muted. Very muted. Kind of like a sepia photograph equivalent of a novel which, while aesthetically era appropriate, just didn’t make for a very exciting read. Maybe the pacing is partly to blame, it was somewhat torpid, but if I had to make a bet, it’s the tone. Granted, not every book has to burst with excitement, but you’d think a story like that with Europe barely recovering from WWI and already able to foresee WWII around the corner, so momentous of an era, would offer some. Even the love story is pretty tepid. Plenty of character writing, but not a crazy amount of character development, murky motivations, and opaque obfuscations are abound. Made them difficult to genuinely care about, make the book difficult to engage with. So essentially if you’re really interested in WWI and subsequent years (up to about 1921) there’s a lot of material here, meticulously detailed and atmospheric, but for pure entertainment and sheer joy of getting immersed into a story this isn’t quite the right thing. Good writing does tend to overpower the soporific pacing, but this is more for the fans of black and white movies. Thanks Netgalley.
February 7, 2019
In today's historical fiction market if you are choosing to write about WWI or WWII you really need to feel confident that you have a special story to tell; otherwise you are just contributing to the over saturation of the market.
Unfortunately The Verdun Affair didn't hold anything truly new or interesting to me. A few side stories that were very good; but then we'd get back to the main story and it was dull and drab again.
Disjointed
The way Nick Dybek has written The Verdun Affair is to jump back and forth between people's memories and their current day. However it's not always clear which timeline you're in or even which character POV is you are in. This created confusion for me at numerous points. At first I would read back to try and figure out what I missed; but after it happening a few times I'd just plow forward with the narrative and hope I figured it out before the POV or timeline changed again. There was just too much crisscrossing to really keep a good handle for me.
Side Stories
The best part of Verdun Affair was the little side stories that were told. They felt very truthful (as they likely are) and genuine. Additionally they were personal in a way that the rest of the novel did not match up with. My favourite side story of them all discussed a man in the trenches whom the enemy has just bombed, and if you were lucky enough to survive the bombing then you saw the enemy bearing down on you with guns a blazing. And of course you saw this through the smoke of the battlefield created by the bombs. Then suddenly the enemy falls dead. As if by magic. What actually happened is a high concentration of CO2 flowed up in a pocket and killed the front-line men racing towards the trenches.
I can't even imagine what you would think in those moments were you in the trench; but obviously many would go to religion or other spiritual thoughts as their life was saved, seemingly, by an invisible force.
Overall
Now that I've given you the gist of the best side story (above) you can confidently (in my opinion) leave this book to the side and move towards some of the better war literature out there. I would recommend one that doesn't chase amnesiacs around Europe or encourage delusional thoughts about a husband whilst sleeping with another man...
Or even better, one that is based on a true story with far more meaningful relationships and characters than described here.
To read this and more of my reviews visit my blog at Epic Reading
Please note: I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. This is an honest and unbiased review.
Unfortunately The Verdun Affair didn't hold anything truly new or interesting to me. A few side stories that were very good; but then we'd get back to the main story and it was dull and drab again.
Disjointed
The way Nick Dybek has written The Verdun Affair is to jump back and forth between people's memories and their current day. However it's not always clear which timeline you're in or even which character POV is you are in. This created confusion for me at numerous points. At first I would read back to try and figure out what I missed; but after it happening a few times I'd just plow forward with the narrative and hope I figured it out before the POV or timeline changed again. There was just too much crisscrossing to really keep a good handle for me.
Side Stories
The best part of Verdun Affair was the little side stories that were told. They felt very truthful (as they likely are) and genuine. Additionally they were personal in a way that the rest of the novel did not match up with. My favourite side story of them all discussed a man in the trenches whom the enemy has just bombed, and if you were lucky enough to survive the bombing then you saw the enemy bearing down on you with guns a blazing. And of course you saw this through the smoke of the battlefield created by the bombs. Then suddenly the enemy falls dead. As if by magic. What actually happened is a high concentration of CO2 flowed up in a pocket and killed the front-line men racing towards the trenches.
I can't even imagine what you would think in those moments were you in the trench; but obviously many would go to religion or other spiritual thoughts as their life was saved, seemingly, by an invisible force.
Overall
Now that I've given you the gist of the best side story (above) you can confidently (in my opinion) leave this book to the side and move towards some of the better war literature out there. I would recommend one that doesn't chase amnesiacs around Europe or encourage delusional thoughts about a husband whilst sleeping with another man...
Or even better, one that is based on a true story with far more meaningful relationships and characters than described here.
To read this and more of my reviews visit my blog at Epic Reading
Please note: I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. This is an honest and unbiased review.
October 22, 2018
Snooze fest, couldn't get through it without speed reading big time and even then it was a chore.
June 4, 2018
1.5 star read
This book just didn't work for me. I think the idea behind it had such potential and yet it fell flat and didn't come together for me at all.
Jumping from 1920s France to 1950s California we follow Tom as his past and present come to a head.
Tom meets Sarah after WWI in Verdun - he is tasked with collecting bones of fallen soldiers in order to create a memorial to all the men and boys who died on the Western Front. Sarah travels to Verdun in search of her lost husband - missing since 1918, she doesn't believe that he is dead.
Tom complicates things by lying to Sarah about having met her husband, while also getting involved with Sarah himself. Not getting answers in Verdun, Sarah leaves the city, also leaving Tom heartbroken. This leads to Tom leaving Verdun and heading to Paris to become a reporter for a local newspaper, which then gets Tom sent to Italy to report a soldier who claims to have amnesia. Tom believes that Sarah might be there and jumps at the chance to report on this case.
While in Italy, Tom meets Paul, an Austrian who is also interested in the amnesiac solider, trying to right a wrong that was done to him during the war. Sarah does arrive, and the three characters form a strange triangle.
Jump to California, 30 years later, Tom and Paul randomly run into one another at a funeral. This leads the men to reminiscing about the past ... and Sarah in particular.
My issue with this story is that it jumps back and forth far to much, and in a way that doesn't really bring the story together. What could have been a beautiful love story, or a vivid story about France as it recovers from the devastation of the First World War. Instead we get snippets, narration that feels disjointed, the plot almost half-told.
It was difficult to read simply because I felt absolutely no connection with any of the characters, nor did the story-line pull me in.
A disappointed read for me. Not recommended.
Thank you Netgalley, Simon & Schuster Canada, and Scriber for providing me with an advanced copy in return for an honest review.
This book just didn't work for me. I think the idea behind it had such potential and yet it fell flat and didn't come together for me at all.
Jumping from 1920s France to 1950s California we follow Tom as his past and present come to a head.
Tom meets Sarah after WWI in Verdun - he is tasked with collecting bones of fallen soldiers in order to create a memorial to all the men and boys who died on the Western Front. Sarah travels to Verdun in search of her lost husband - missing since 1918, she doesn't believe that he is dead.
Tom complicates things by lying to Sarah about having met her husband, while also getting involved with Sarah himself. Not getting answers in Verdun, Sarah leaves the city, also leaving Tom heartbroken. This leads to Tom leaving Verdun and heading to Paris to become a reporter for a local newspaper, which then gets Tom sent to Italy to report a soldier who claims to have amnesia. Tom believes that Sarah might be there and jumps at the chance to report on this case.
While in Italy, Tom meets Paul, an Austrian who is also interested in the amnesiac solider, trying to right a wrong that was done to him during the war. Sarah does arrive, and the three characters form a strange triangle.
Jump to California, 30 years later, Tom and Paul randomly run into one another at a funeral. This leads the men to reminiscing about the past ... and Sarah in particular.
My issue with this story is that it jumps back and forth far to much, and in a way that doesn't really bring the story together. What could have been a beautiful love story, or a vivid story about France as it recovers from the devastation of the First World War. Instead we get snippets, narration that feels disjointed, the plot almost half-told.
It was difficult to read simply because I felt absolutely no connection with any of the characters, nor did the story-line pull me in.
A disappointed read for me. Not recommended.
Thank you Netgalley, Simon & Schuster Canada, and Scriber for providing me with an advanced copy in return for an honest review.
April 10, 2023
It’s unfair to compare Nick to his father, Stuart. I will say, independently, that I have enjoyed everything I’ve read by Stuart Dybek.
However, this novel really failed to hold my attention. Perhaps it’s partly my fault, though I was sober every time I read it, which I can’t say about many books I’ve loved. Maybe sobriety is the issue?
Either way, if I’m honest, it feels like Nick hasn’t found his voice yet, because there’s nothing unique about the writing, and the story could be set in any time in any place and have just about the same impact.
However, this novel really failed to hold my attention. Perhaps it’s partly my fault, though I was sober every time I read it, which I can’t say about many books I’ve loved. Maybe sobriety is the issue?
Either way, if I’m honest, it feels like Nick hasn’t found his voice yet, because there’s nothing unique about the writing, and the story could be set in any time in any place and have just about the same impact.
November 1, 2018
I received an ARC of this title from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I could not get into this book. I picked it up because I was hoping for a story similar to The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah, which I love, but after 30% decided to put it down. I can see how someone who likes a slow moving story might enjoy this read. However, I found it patchy and hard to find the bones of the story. Just not for me.
I could not get into this book. I picked it up because I was hoping for a story similar to The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah, which I love, but after 30% decided to put it down. I can see how someone who likes a slow moving story might enjoy this read. However, I found it patchy and hard to find the bones of the story. Just not for me.
June 20, 2018
Wow. I can't remember the last book I read that did so many things so well. The plot is propulsive yet profound, sprawling yet tightly controlled. The prose is gorgeous--lyrical, precise, enormously evocative. And the narrator's voice is so complex--restrained, even repressed, and yet every line was so redolent with feeling! But the thing that amazes me most is the way the novel calls into question these very satisfactions, subtly interrogating the narrative conventions it makes such compelling, incessantly enjoyable use of. Tom, Sarah, and Paul are trying to reconstruct themselves in the wake of unfathomable violence and trauma, and stories serve as their primary mechanism of repair. To explain the way the inadequacy of that tool is laid bare would be to spoil some shocking and gut-wrenching moments of action and resolution/irresolution, so I'll resist (but gah! that sequence in the Dolomites! Sarah crying outside the hospital room! Drummond Greene! That guy at Aix-les-Baines! The song!!!!), and just say I recommend this, and then some! As rife as the reading experience is with the most essential narrative pleasures, this novel is anything but simple. Read it not because it is a page-turner (it is!), but because it engages with some unsettling, moving, complicated truths by the most subtle narrative means. For fans of The Age of Innocence, The Remains of the Day, the Regeneration trilogy, The End of the Affair, etc. Highly, highly recommended!
August 15, 2018
I loved this novel! The writing was exquisite, often poetic but not flowery, always careful, employing an economy of language that evoked rather than explained or ornamented what's being presented. I thought it was reflective, but not derivative, of Hemingway's Farewell to Arms. The Great War, WWI, challenges the heart and mind to make sense of humanity, and Dybek's protagonist is both a victim and a charmed observer, a lucky survivor. How he copes with his daily employment of gathering bones from the horrific battlefields and helping priests comfort the families of the dead is by listening to and telling stories to console those who grieve, and these become elaborate lies, one of which shaping the passionate love affair central to the novel. There are love triangles and madness and beautiful descriptions of France and Italy and horrifying depictions of war and the rise of Italian fascism. The story is artfully framed by a "present" day narrative in the movie world of 1950 LA from which the reminiscences emerge. Dybek manages to carry the story in both of these settings by the strength of his imagery, the emotional immediacy and visual acuity. The ending is a kind of marvel.
April 21, 2018
From its description I believed this book had all the ingredients I would enjoy; war, romance in a devastated city and the mystery of a missing soldier after he was believed to have deserted.
Told in the first person by a young man who was gathering bones to place in the ossuary, (and later in life as a reporter and Hollywood screenwriter), he falls in love with a woman searching for news of her missing or dead husband in Verdun as World War 1 winds down. He describes the horrors of war and his developing passion for the woman, but for some reasons his feelings seemed remote and muted, and I was unable to engage emotionally. Dialogue often seemed stilted to me, and the narrative detached from the actions and emotions described. The characters in the love story did not seem compatible.
There was a great plot here, and the author has a fine talent for words. However, there was much that was unnecessary in telling the story and which detracted from the plot.
I was sorry that I was unable to connect with the characters and events which may be entirely my failing, and do believe that some readers will enjoy the novel.
Thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Told in the first person by a young man who was gathering bones to place in the ossuary, (and later in life as a reporter and Hollywood screenwriter), he falls in love with a woman searching for news of her missing or dead husband in Verdun as World War 1 winds down. He describes the horrors of war and his developing passion for the woman, but for some reasons his feelings seemed remote and muted, and I was unable to engage emotionally. Dialogue often seemed stilted to me, and the narrative detached from the actions and emotions described. The characters in the love story did not seem compatible.
There was a great plot here, and the author has a fine talent for words. However, there was much that was unnecessary in telling the story and which detracted from the plot.
I was sorry that I was unable to connect with the characters and events which may be entirely my failing, and do believe that some readers will enjoy the novel.
Thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
September 9, 2018
Did not finish -- very hard to follow.
August 15, 2019
I did not like this book. I don't know why I kept reading it. And when I finished I wished I hadn't.
March 5, 2018
As a huge fan of European history, especially WWI and WWII, I just had to read this book.
The story starts in 1950, Hollywood. Two old friends, Tom and Paul meet nearly thirty years after their last meeting. They agreed to get together for a dinner and reminisce about the event that brought them together in Bologna, Italy in late 1920.
Three decades prior, Tom was an ambulance driver who also gathered bones from the battlefield in a small French town - Verdun. Tom's father passed away when Tom was a young boy, a local priest took an interest in him and helped Tom find work and place to live. Instead of returning back to Chicago, where Tom is originally from, he decides to stay in Verdun, where a few years later he meets Sarah, a young woman who is searching for her missing husband. Sarah's beauty, personality, and a strong will draw Tom closer to her. And after their short acquaintance, the two begin a love affair. However, their romance is short lived. Sarah must continue the search for her husband, and Tom relocates to Paris and finds a new job - newspaper reporter.
However, a couple of months later, Tom and Sarah meet again, this time in a Bologna, Italy. Tom is sent there to cover a story of a "Douglas Fairbanks" - a soldier with amnesia, whom Sarah claims is her missing husband. This is where Tom meets a fellow Austrian journalist Paul, who also has a personal interest in the amnesiac.
This is a great plot idea. However, there were way too many very long stories in the book that could have been avoided and/or shortened. It was too much material and info to keep up with that didn't really affect the main story. I appreciate the fact that an author was trying to show us a bigger picture, it just felt overdone. Less is more. Other than that - a wonderful story with an interesting ending, that left me thinking if there will be a sequel.
The story starts in 1950, Hollywood. Two old friends, Tom and Paul meet nearly thirty years after their last meeting. They agreed to get together for a dinner and reminisce about the event that brought them together in Bologna, Italy in late 1920.
Three decades prior, Tom was an ambulance driver who also gathered bones from the battlefield in a small French town - Verdun. Tom's father passed away when Tom was a young boy, a local priest took an interest in him and helped Tom find work and place to live. Instead of returning back to Chicago, where Tom is originally from, he decides to stay in Verdun, where a few years later he meets Sarah, a young woman who is searching for her missing husband. Sarah's beauty, personality, and a strong will draw Tom closer to her. And after their short acquaintance, the two begin a love affair. However, their romance is short lived. Sarah must continue the search for her husband, and Tom relocates to Paris and finds a new job - newspaper reporter.
However, a couple of months later, Tom and Sarah meet again, this time in a Bologna, Italy. Tom is sent there to cover a story of a "Douglas Fairbanks" - a soldier with amnesia, whom Sarah claims is her missing husband. This is where Tom meets a fellow Austrian journalist Paul, who also has a personal interest in the amnesiac.
This is a great plot idea. However, there were way too many very long stories in the book that could have been avoided and/or shortened. It was too much material and info to keep up with that didn't really affect the main story. I appreciate the fact that an author was trying to show us a bigger picture, it just felt overdone. Less is more. Other than that - a wonderful story with an interesting ending, that left me thinking if there will be a sequel.
July 4, 2018
From its opening sentence (“I awoke with the feeling of something crawling over me in the dark”) to its final haunting and ambiguous close (“I stamped the brakes only to realize that without my noticing it the engine had died”), The Verdun Affair casts an irresistible spell over its readers. Intricately plotted, the story moves seamlessly back and forth over decades and across oceans from France and Italy to California—from the scarred battlefield of Verdun, after the Great War, to the glamorous salons of Hollywood and Santa Monica, after World War II. The prose is both lush and precise, and even the skeptical reader will experience being swept into the gradual, inevitable love story that draws together Tom, the cautious church functionary-turned-journalist-turned-screenwriter, and the beautiful, carefully-put-together but rash war widow Sarah. Both seek the identity of the mysterious amnesiac, whose story echoes the uncertainties that plague all stories. But while memory is a theme of this novel, these two damaged people are unforgettable to each other and also to the reader, who for the precious days inside this book will lose track of the fact that any other world exists. A huge amount of research clearly went into making The Verdun Affair feel so fantastically alive, but that research is worn by the book as lightly as its subtle presentation of the cast of characters. This book will stay with you long after you turn the final page.
August 20, 2018
This story centers around a couple people who are trying to identify a nameless man who was seriously injured in France in WWI. (One of them being someone who claims he is her husband.)
In spite of some excellent reviews, I did NOT “get” this book. I plodded through it but it never got any better for me. Confusing.
In spite of some excellent reviews, I did NOT “get” this book. I plodded through it but it never got any better for me. Confusing.
April 25, 2018
This was a tough one for me. I was really excited about this one, the description sounded great! It had so much potential and I felt it just didn't quite make it. I love a good historical fiction novel, especially something set during WWI or II. However, I felt there was too much back and forth between character backstories and flash forwards for me to enjoy it.
The novel starts with two old friends, Tom and Paul, meeting again in Hollywood in 1950 after not seeing each other for 30 years. Naturally they start to catch up and we are transported back to the aftermath of WWI. We learn of Tom's life in Verdun where he worked for the church gathering the bones of soldiers who died in battle there. He meets a war widow, Sarah, who is still searching for answers regarding her missing but presumed dead husband. Obviously, we know where this is going. A torrid love affair ensues, except Sarah decides she must keep searching for her husband. Tom of course is heartbroken, moves to Paris and starts working for a newspaper.
Eventually Tom is sent to Bologna, Italy where he is covering the story of an amnesiac believed to be an american soldier. Paul, a journalist from Vienna is also in Italy, but with a different interest in the amnesiac. Eventually Tom, runs into Sarah who believes the amnesiac, affectionately referred to as "Douglas Fairbanks" is her missing husband. As can be expected shenanigans ensue. Feelings are hurt, nefarious motives revealed, etc.
Sarah in my opinion was not a sympathetic character and most of the time Tom came across as whiny and depressing. I honestly had no opinion about Paul. Many of the plot points were easily guessed and I was not surprised by many of the turn of events. I felt as if the author tried to give us too much. I felt that if he had narrowed the scope of the story a bit, it might have come across a little better. Thank you to NetGalley for providing an ARC for review.
The novel starts with two old friends, Tom and Paul, meeting again in Hollywood in 1950 after not seeing each other for 30 years. Naturally they start to catch up and we are transported back to the aftermath of WWI. We learn of Tom's life in Verdun where he worked for the church gathering the bones of soldiers who died in battle there. He meets a war widow, Sarah, who is still searching for answers regarding her missing but presumed dead husband. Obviously, we know where this is going. A torrid love affair ensues, except Sarah decides she must keep searching for her husband. Tom of course is heartbroken, moves to Paris and starts working for a newspaper.
Eventually Tom is sent to Bologna, Italy where he is covering the story of an amnesiac believed to be an american soldier. Paul, a journalist from Vienna is also in Italy, but with a different interest in the amnesiac. Eventually Tom, runs into Sarah who believes the amnesiac, affectionately referred to as "Douglas Fairbanks" is her missing husband. As can be expected shenanigans ensue. Feelings are hurt, nefarious motives revealed, etc.
Sarah in my opinion was not a sympathetic character and most of the time Tom came across as whiny and depressing. I honestly had no opinion about Paul. Many of the plot points were easily guessed and I was not surprised by many of the turn of events. I felt as if the author tried to give us too much. I felt that if he had narrowed the scope of the story a bit, it might have come across a little better. Thank you to NetGalley for providing an ARC for review.
June 22, 2018
Very good book about areas in around Verdun, France near the end of World War I. But you are introduced (teased) with the characters as we meet them in 1950 in California. I was drawn into this book in the first chapter with incredibly beautiful phrases and descriptions. Lyrical. Memorable. A reference to a coat on a shoulder that when you read it, you will wonder if you will ever look at it again in the same way...goodness that was marvelous). The characters are likeable, very real, and you want all the best to happen for them. The mystery builds. Back and forth in time (but not too much, just enough). But then four fifths of the way through...I found myself becoming impatient. Wanting a conclusion, a resolution...something. It just stretched on for just a little too long. Otherwise I would have given this a 5 star (and I'm stingy with those). So yes, read it, and speed read some towards the end...you'll see what I mean.
June 2, 2018
The opening chapter was perfection, I literally sighed with joy reading it.
The descriptions of the war torn courtry and post-war life was truely haunting.
The reason for the 4/5 instead of 5/5: I was hoping for the portion of the story set in the 50's to be a bit more complex....I will not say more.
Disclamer : This book was provided by Simon and Schuster Canada as a contest prize. <3
The descriptions of the war torn courtry and post-war life was truely haunting.
The reason for the 4/5 instead of 5/5: I was hoping for the portion of the story set in the 50's to be a bit more complex....I will not say more.
Disclamer : This book was provided by Simon and Schuster Canada as a contest prize. <3
June 20, 2018
Slow Then Fast Then Slow Then,.....
This really well-told story unfolds in surreal time but it all connects beautifully after the quest is identified. Suspense and unanswered questions start to receive credible and coincidental data that links the three principles together
, possibly forever. Nicely written with some challenging word play. Buy it soon, then enjoy. I think it is a novel that has smart sensitive people as its target readership in mind.
This really well-told story unfolds in surreal time but it all connects beautifully after the quest is identified. Suspense and unanswered questions start to receive credible and coincidental data that links the three principles together
, possibly forever. Nicely written with some challenging word play. Buy it soon, then enjoy. I think it is a novel that has smart sensitive people as its target readership in mind.
June 16, 2018
The images of this book are so powerful: from the main character Tom carrying bones out of the field, to the desperate family members who show up in Verdun looking for the lost, to the dinner tables filled with amazing food.
The story is filled with twists that to speak of would give the story away.
The story is filled with twists that to speak of would give the story away.
May 31, 2021
With too many stale characters, an uninspiring plot, and an abundant lack of caring to tell a meaningful story from the author, The Verdun Affair deserves to be buried and forgotten.
Find my full thoughts and feelings here:
https://thesecretlifeofabibliophile.w...
Find my full thoughts and feelings here:
https://thesecretlifeofabibliophile.w...
April 9, 2019
7/10. Okay so the only thing I really loved about this book was that it was set (for a lot of the book) in Bologna (I visited there a couple of weeks ago to go to a Shawn Mendes concert and absolutely FELL IN LOVE with the city, and now obviously, have very very fond memories of it). So I would literally reread this book just to transport myself back to Bologna (kinda weird, I know) - Dybeks descriptions of the city are so wonderful. I remember when I was writing my journal I was writing about how I wish I could describe how wonderful the city is, and Dybek has gone and done that for me!!
But other than the fact that a lot of the story took place in Bologna - I didn’t love the book. I found it quite drab and boring in parts and it never really sucked me in and had me invested - the characters were a little bland and I didn’t really care about them all that much, and when it comes to reading, I need a good character to keep me interested and invested. I also thought there was an overuse of dialogue which I really didn’t enjoy as I love reading description a lot more.
I think I’ve just read way too many historical fiction books that have blown me away, and compared to those (ie The Book Thief, All the Light We Cannot See), the Verdun Affair was average. It wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t great either. It just wasn’t very special or unique.
However in saying that, I’m still gonna reread it sometime in the future just because I wanna remember how happy I was in Bologna - yes I’m that odd.
But other than the fact that a lot of the story took place in Bologna - I didn’t love the book. I found it quite drab and boring in parts and it never really sucked me in and had me invested - the characters were a little bland and I didn’t really care about them all that much, and when it comes to reading, I need a good character to keep me interested and invested. I also thought there was an overuse of dialogue which I really didn’t enjoy as I love reading description a lot more.
I think I’ve just read way too many historical fiction books that have blown me away, and compared to those (ie The Book Thief, All the Light We Cannot See), the Verdun Affair was average. It wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t great either. It just wasn’t very special or unique.
However in saying that, I’m still gonna reread it sometime in the future just because I wanna remember how happy I was in Bologna - yes I’m that odd.
January 15, 2019
Tom is an American who in his young life has developed a narrow but deep understanding of death and loss. As an ambulance driver and after the war helping a French priest collect the bones from the battleground that was Verdun, he has encountered many wives and parents in a desperate hunt to find out more about their missing husbands and sons. One of those is Sarah, in search for her missing husband. What follows is a doomed love affair and lives lived, for many, without ever being able to move on from the horror of the war. Dybek creates as elegiac mood with some echoes of Hemingway since the lost man was an ambulance driver in Italy. In the early twenties one can see the rise of the next great catastrophe that will be hitting the world in twenty years as the Italian black shirts create violence in the streets of Bologna while others look for a new world in the teachings of the Communists. The last line (and image)of the book sums up Tom's life beautifully.
July 8, 2018
This is a cruel but romantic post world war 1 story. An American woman searching for her husband who was missing, presumed dead meets a young American ex pat working with an episcopal bishop who helped families find missing soldiers. The young man quickly falls in love with this woman. Their lives diverge as she continues to search for her husband and he then works as a journalist. They meet again in Italy, not completely by chance as he knew she had gone their to search for her husband. They meet an amnesiac man that she said was her husband. Another journalist said this patient was a man he had met and had killed his friend. Who was this man that everyone called Douglas Fairbanks. He wasn’t either of these men. Again their lives diverge for 30 years. Do they meet again? You decide.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 1, 2018
Le sujet de la Première Guerre Mondiale m’a toujours intéressé. Originaire de Moselle, j’ai eu la chance de faire un voyage scolaire à Verdun en fin de troisième (ça date, oui je sais….mais je m’en souviens encore, c’est peu dire !). J’en garde un souvenir poignant. Je me rappelle avoir été choquée et perturbée par ces villages totalement détruits, et l’alignement des tombes à l’Ossuaire. J’ai donc été tout de suite tentée par ce livre. Et je ne regrette pas mon choix !
Ce livre est une réflexion sur l’amour. Fouiller le passé est-il judicieux, lorsque la quête de Sarah afin de retrouver son mari disparu l’empêche de vivre pleinement un nouvel amour avec Tom. Quelles sont les conséquences sur notre destin quand on passe à côté du présent et du bonheur réel pour une chimère ? Sarah va faire son apprentissage de l’amour, de la vie, de l’espoir, ou du désespoir, l’amour, qu’il soit passé ou présent, peut-il être dangereux ?
Les époques et les lieux se croisent et s’entremêlent. On voyage avec Sarah et Tom entre Verdun, Paris, l’Italie et les Etats-Unis.
Mais ce livre est également un formidable témoignage et une immersion dans le conflit de 14-18 que le lecteur vit de l’intérieur. Les références sont nombreuses et détaillées, le travail de recherche et de documentation fait par l’auteur est phénoménal. Les tranchées, les attaques au gaz, les médecins, la tente des mourants, les évacuations. Le passage montrant comment Mgr Gaillard vérifiant si les mourants étaient encore vivants m’a épatée : il pose sa main sur le nez de la personne. Si le nez est froid, le blessé est déclaré mort. Moi qui ai toujours le nez froid, inutile de vous dire qu’à cette époque, j’aurais été déclarée morte tous les jours !
Les récits au cœur de la citadelle de Vauban, avec ses souterrains, son labyrinthe tortueux, un abri relatif, m’ont passionnés. On entend presque le petit train qui transporte la farine ou les munitions, le grésillement des gramophones, on devine dans la pénombre les soldats aux yeux vides et aux uniformes souillés.
Et l’après-guerre, avec le journal parisien où les familles des disparus font publier des petites annonces en dernier recours, une tentative désespérée de retrouver un proche. L’avènement des chemises noires et du fascisme en Italie. Tout est authentique, détaillé, anecdotique. On apprend une foule de choses intéressantes que l’on ne trouve pas dans les livres d’histoire. Le lecteur est dans l’Histoire.
Et cet amnésique, qui est-il ? Nos protagonistes vont-ils dévoiler la vérité, ou bien les secrets resteront jalousement gardés ?
C’est instructif, passionnant, émouvant, un livre qui se dévore sans compter, et quand on lève les yeux, on se dit qu’on a de la chance d’être dans un pays libre, de voir du ciel bleu, et de connaître l’amour.
Ce livre est une réflexion sur l’amour. Fouiller le passé est-il judicieux, lorsque la quête de Sarah afin de retrouver son mari disparu l’empêche de vivre pleinement un nouvel amour avec Tom. Quelles sont les conséquences sur notre destin quand on passe à côté du présent et du bonheur réel pour une chimère ? Sarah va faire son apprentissage de l’amour, de la vie, de l’espoir, ou du désespoir, l’amour, qu’il soit passé ou présent, peut-il être dangereux ?
Les époques et les lieux se croisent et s’entremêlent. On voyage avec Sarah et Tom entre Verdun, Paris, l’Italie et les Etats-Unis.
Mais ce livre est également un formidable témoignage et une immersion dans le conflit de 14-18 que le lecteur vit de l’intérieur. Les références sont nombreuses et détaillées, le travail de recherche et de documentation fait par l’auteur est phénoménal. Les tranchées, les attaques au gaz, les médecins, la tente des mourants, les évacuations. Le passage montrant comment Mgr Gaillard vérifiant si les mourants étaient encore vivants m’a épatée : il pose sa main sur le nez de la personne. Si le nez est froid, le blessé est déclaré mort. Moi qui ai toujours le nez froid, inutile de vous dire qu’à cette époque, j’aurais été déclarée morte tous les jours !
Les récits au cœur de la citadelle de Vauban, avec ses souterrains, son labyrinthe tortueux, un abri relatif, m’ont passionnés. On entend presque le petit train qui transporte la farine ou les munitions, le grésillement des gramophones, on devine dans la pénombre les soldats aux yeux vides et aux uniformes souillés.
Et l’après-guerre, avec le journal parisien où les familles des disparus font publier des petites annonces en dernier recours, une tentative désespérée de retrouver un proche. L’avènement des chemises noires et du fascisme en Italie. Tout est authentique, détaillé, anecdotique. On apprend une foule de choses intéressantes que l’on ne trouve pas dans les livres d’histoire. Le lecteur est dans l’Histoire.
Et cet amnésique, qui est-il ? Nos protagonistes vont-ils dévoiler la vérité, ou bien les secrets resteront jalousement gardés ?
C’est instructif, passionnant, émouvant, un livre qui se dévore sans compter, et quand on lève les yeux, on se dit qu’on a de la chance d’être dans un pays libre, de voir du ciel bleu, et de connaître l’amour.
April 14, 2018
I would like to thank NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Canada for selecting me to receive an advance copy. I was very excited when I received the email granting me access before its release date (June 2018). I wished this book was not on a first person narrative. I love historical fiction books. This book has all the right ingredients and so much potential. But I don’t find this one satisfying. The story line is good but something is missing. I wanted more. I was hungry for more. It felt incomplete. Perhaps more passion? I don’t know. It is definitely not engaging.
July 2, 2019
This story is haunting, bittersweet, and melancholic. Mainly set between World War I and World War II, “The Verdun Affair” is dependent on the atmosphere of loss and instability that existed during that time. This tale is character-centered with multiple plot lines and plot twists. As with real life, much of the storyline is unresolved in the end. It is a serious story which impresses the importance of small actions throughout a person’s life on both their own futures and on others they cross paths with.
May 25, 2020
The novel begins and ends in 1950 in Santa Monica, California, but most of the action occurs in 1921 and a few years later, trying to mop up the horrors of WWI and introducing a love story, a very complicated love story. I should have loved a book with these premises, but I found the telling a bit too convoluted, our narrator not sufficiently honest with himself, his companions, or with readers. The plot fell a bit flat, but the ending came off better than I expected.
May 16, 2018
I won this book as a ARC from Simon and Schuster publishing company. I enjoyed reading it. It had a good story to it. It was my first book by this author. I liked the variety of characters in it. I hope to read more books by this author.
July 17, 2018
With the 100 anniversary of the end of WWI coming up this November 11th, it seems that more novels (and TV series) revolving around the war are being offered. Or maybe I’m just noticing them specifically. Nick Dybek’s novel, “The Verdun Affair”, is one such novel. It begins just after the war as the utterly destroyed city of Verdun and its satellite cities, are rebuilding after the longest (11 months) and bloodiest battle of the First World War. Later the story moves to Italy, as the Fascists strive for power.
Dybek’s vivid and moving descriptions of young men picking up load after load after load of bones to take to the newly commission ossuary, his descriptions of windows and mothers, making a solemn pilgrimage to Verdun to try to find out some scrap of information about their lost husbands and sons, were eye-opening and electrifying. I had never thought of what happens to the human body after being shelled – that it almost becomes “mist”. And what happens to the soil in a land where so many human bodies have liquefied into the ground, and of the assorted bones that are left strewn. It’s pretty thought-provoking and poignant, readers!
Narrated by an American, Tom Combs, who was orphaned during the war and who stayed on in Verdun afterward, the plot centers on a young widow, Sarah, whom he meets as she looks for her lost husband, and a Viennese journalist named, Paul, both of whom have an interest in an amnesiac in Italy.
The novel moves back and forth between Verdun in the 1920s and LA in 1950 where Tom now “writes for the movies” and has recently been reunited with Paul. I’ll stop here: I don’t want to give away any of the twists and romances and plot points that lead up to the conclusion.
One of the most interesting and inescapable things about reading history or historical fiction surrounding “The Great War”, is that we possess what our subjects did not, that is, the knowledge of WWII looming in less than a generation. One can’t escape from reading WWI stories as the foreshadowing of WWII.
Other recent and upcoming works that take place in the aftermath of WWI that I highly recommend:
“The Winter Soldier” by Daniel Mason
“So Much Life Left Over” by Louis de Bernieres
and
“Babylon Berlin” – Netflix series made in Germany
Dybek’s vivid and moving descriptions of young men picking up load after load after load of bones to take to the newly commission ossuary, his descriptions of windows and mothers, making a solemn pilgrimage to Verdun to try to find out some scrap of information about their lost husbands and sons, were eye-opening and electrifying. I had never thought of what happens to the human body after being shelled – that it almost becomes “mist”. And what happens to the soil in a land where so many human bodies have liquefied into the ground, and of the assorted bones that are left strewn. It’s pretty thought-provoking and poignant, readers!
Narrated by an American, Tom Combs, who was orphaned during the war and who stayed on in Verdun afterward, the plot centers on a young widow, Sarah, whom he meets as she looks for her lost husband, and a Viennese journalist named, Paul, both of whom have an interest in an amnesiac in Italy.
The novel moves back and forth between Verdun in the 1920s and LA in 1950 where Tom now “writes for the movies” and has recently been reunited with Paul. I’ll stop here: I don’t want to give away any of the twists and romances and plot points that lead up to the conclusion.
One of the most interesting and inescapable things about reading history or historical fiction surrounding “The Great War”, is that we possess what our subjects did not, that is, the knowledge of WWII looming in less than a generation. One can’t escape from reading WWI stories as the foreshadowing of WWII.
Other recent and upcoming works that take place in the aftermath of WWI that I highly recommend:
“The Winter Soldier” by Daniel Mason
“So Much Life Left Over” by Louis de Bernieres
and
“Babylon Berlin” – Netflix series made in Germany
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