I received this from netgalley.com in exchange for a review.

I just couldn't get a grasp on this story.
Abandoned at 25%
DNF no rating

Going back and forth between 1950's Los Angeles and World War 1 France is a great set up for a historical novel. There are so, SO many ways this could be done...and sadly, The Verdun Affair fell flat for me.

There was TOO MUCH going back and forth. I didn't feel anything for any of the characters - in fact, Tom was kind of an ass and I didn't enjoy him at all.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.

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.

Historical fiction set largely in Europe and in the period between the two World Wars. Although the novel is framed by conversations in Los Angeles in 1950, its main focus is the aftermath of WWI. Paul, Sarah, and Tom are linked by their interest in an amnesiac patient dubbed Douglas Fairbanks. There's a romance as well between Sarah and Tom. Everyone has a secret (doesn't that make for the best plot line?). This is not a flawless novel. It would have been better with fewer things- events, themes, characters. That said, it's a good read for those interested in the era. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC.

An expansive historical fiction novel! See my full review here. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2372180708

Nick Dybek has chosen to write a novel about a period of war that is sometimes overlooked. It is the time after the battle: what has become of the town, its people, and its daily life? More importantly, what is the impact on those who must somehow pick up the pieces of their lives to create a place in a devastated world?

Tom is a young man, former ambulance driver, now collecting bones for an ossuary to commemorate all the war dead of Verdun. Sarah comes to Verdun seeking any news that her husband may still be alive. After an unexpected but brief affair, they part. The action then shifts to Bologna where Tom (now a writer) and Paul, a fellow journalist meet. They are in pursuit of a silent, wounded amnesiac, nicknamed Douglas Fairbanks, after the famous silent film star. Sarah also arrives, hoping that perhaps this man may be her husband.

The book has mystery, danger, and romance. Observations about places are beautifully written. The characters attempt to make connections but the fragility of forming deep relationships eludes them.

Holding the narrative together is the over-arching secondary narrative that takes place in 1950s Los Angeles. Paul and Tom (now a screen writer) meet by chance in Hollywood. Over several days, wine and dinners they recall their European days and learn only now what they were thinking and what went unshared.

This is a well-written novel that may have been improved by tighter editing. Some interesting details and anecdotes could have been shortened or omitted to move the action along at a stronger pace. But this is a story that will linger after the book is over. Recommended.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book.

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.

A twisty, richly researched and beautifully peopled novel which gorgeously captures a time and place.

As much as I love and enjoy historical novels, this one was not enjoyable. Slow reading, with not much excitement did little to keep me interested. My thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this in exchange for an honest opinion.

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.

Some books are like cotton candy, you quickly devour them and while the experience was pleasant it does not stay with you. This is not one of those books. This book is more like a rich chocolate ganache cake, to be savored bite by bite over an extended period of time. While reserved there is a great deal of emotion here. it begins in the aftermath of the Great War at Verdun, a repository of the never to be identified remains of people’s loved ones. It deals with the yearning for those lost, the unintended results of kindnesses and the need to find a way to go on.

Nick Dybek presents a beautifully written and memorable novel about a great love beginning on the outer edges of one of the most bloody battles of World War One at Verdun. Tom is a young American traveling to Europe at the end of the war. He stays on after driving an ambulance during the fighting in order to help with the labor of identifying the dead and possibly uniting families looking for their relatives after the war. We find him in a job collecting bones from the battlefield and bringing them back for possible identification and burial. Lonely, he is attracted by Sarah, a beautiful American woman visiting the area in search of her husband who disappeared after wandering off from his division and not being seen since. The two fall into an affair, and later meet again at an Italian hospital where a shell shocked soldier dubbed "Douglas Fairbanks" (the American silent screen star) is in the psychiatric ward. The patient has no memory of who he is and what happened to him. Sarah feels that the soldier has enough resemblance to her missing husband to possibly be him. Tom and Sarah are joined by Paul an Austrian journalist who has his own motives for wanting to meet the amnesiac known as "Douglas Fairbanks"
The novel shifts to the 1950s in Hollywood where Tom has become a successful screen writer. He again encounters Paul who has continued to fight the demons of how to live and function again after the trauma that he has gone through. They talk and attempt again to come to terms with the events that have caused so much pain for them and for Sarah. The story ends at this point with everything still up in the air; a situation most likely to occur in real life after facing the horrors of modern warfare. A very captivating novel drawing in the reader and immersing them into emotions and actions of the characters facing horrors that should never be faced by human beings.

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 development, murky motivations, and opaque obfuscations are abound. Made the 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.

Nick Dybek's "The Verdun Affair" is something I probably wouldn't have chosen to read by looking at the back cover. However, upon diving in, I realized it was so much more than a romance. The mysterious undertone throughout the novel kept my hooked from the beginning, and made it hard for me to put this book down. While at times the story seemed a little slow, especially in the beginning, the writing made it seem like I was right there with the characters on their journey to find the truth. I would definitely recommend this book for anyone looking for something that keeps them on the edge of their seat.

Thanks to Simon & Shuster and Nick Dybek for providing me with an advanced reading copy.