Wake

After reading Expectation (and finding it much better than I'd expected), I went in search of other novels by Anna Hope. Opinions were pretty divided, but one of her earlier novels Wake seemed to get overall approval and I thought I'd enjoy the subject matter: women in the aftermath of World War I.

It starts with a threefold definition of the title:
Wake: 

1) Emerge or cause to emerge from sleep 

2) Ritual for the dead 

3) Consequence or aftermath

And to be honest, this must have been the most apt title I've seen in a long time, as this in essence is exactly what the novel is about. 

We follow three women: Ada, who lost her son to the War and is now estranged from her husband; Hettie, who lives at home with her brother who returned but is severly damaged; and Evelyn, whose lover was killed in France. Evelyn is the most embittered of the three; despite here posh background she chooses to work for the Pensions Exchange, helping disabled veterans in the best way she can without getting emotionally involved or connected. She finds little joy in life and seems intent on pushing away anyone who tries to get close. Ada is lost in her grief, imagining seeing her lost son on the street and trying to bring back a time that is now utterly lost. Hettie, on the other hand, can't wait for her life to start again, but cannot find the means to break free from the constraints the times put on her. 

The lives of these women are interconnected, although it takes a while for the connection to become clear. Plot-wise, the novel is very clever. The chapters on the women are interspersed with chapters in which the body of the Unknown Soldier is selected and moved to his final resting place in Westminster Abbey on the 11th of November 1920. This appears to be the culmination of the novel, the final day, but as always, life goes on after that. It is all very cleverly done, supported by beautifully poetic language in places.

However there was one thing that greatly annoyed me. The novel appears to be about the lives of these women after WWI, how the war affected them and how they are moving on, but the most impressive part of the novel, the story that has stayed with me in the days after finishing it, took place amongst men, in the fields of France. It is this event that has an effect on all three of the women, so it is obvious it must be included, but it somehow seems to take centre stage in the novel, pushing the stories of those the novel is supposed to be about to the sideline. The men in this scene find some sort of resolution by the end of the novel, whereas some of the women do not experience any 'growth'; they find themselves exactly where they started.

So even though it is beautifully written and well thought out, the way the experiences of the men do appear more important, more meaningful than those of the women, despite the whole goal of the novel being the opposite, annoyed me to no end. It is a missed opportunity in what is otherwise a great novel.