Love and loss. Those are the themes of Ashley Hay's novel The Railwayman's Wife (#576). Set on the southeast coast of Australia after the end of World War II, it explores not just the loss of a loved one to unexpected death, but the loss of self in two survivors of World War II who are forever marked by their experiences. Three lives intersect in this novel, and each deals with loss in his or her own way, but touched by that intersection outside themselves.
Ani Lachlan is the railwayman's wife, left to raise her young daughter when her husband is killed in a rail accident. Roy McKinnon found his voice through powerful poetry during the war, but peacetime has left him unable to write anything more. Frank Draper, the idealistic doctor, is permanently scarred by being one of the first through the gates of Auschwitz. The tale of these intertwined lives is beautifully told by Ms. Hay as they take the first tentative steps towards a future none of them could have ever envisioned.
Highly recommended.
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