A gorgeous work of literary historical fiction exploring what is commemorated and what is forgotten in times of war, from the ReLit—nominated author of
The Sound of Fire
.
Only the names of those unable to speak are honoured. Only the names of those long silenced, those who could never rise to refute the distorted narrative, are preserved in stone.
In the aftermath of the First World War, two souls struggle to find their place in a world they no longer recognize. Rose, a nurse who tended to the wounded near the frontlines, has returned to her quiet life in Toronto to find that her family home no longer offers any comfort. Only a few years earlier, she reached France brimming with eagerness to contribute, but as she found herself healing soldiers only to send them back to the trenches, the senseless brutality of war became clear—especially once her nephew Leo enlisted.
Meanwhile, Frederick is trying to reclaim the thread of his life interrupted by war. On the verge of completing his PhD when Germany declared him an enemy alien, he spent the next four years languishing in an internment camp, where thousands of men from the British Empire crowded into unheated horse stables. But now he wonders if his anger at his unjust treatment was misdirected.
Their paths cross as each is trying to bridge the chasm between who they once were and who they have become. As Rose and Frederick navigate the fragile promises of a new world, their shared sense of disillusionment becomes a language of its own. Might they find solace in each other?
Past and present intertwine in A Sense of Things Beyond, revealing how each shapes the other. It is a gorgeously written examination of what comes after war, and how we hold remembrance.