Cover Image: All That We Have Lost

All That We Have Lost

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Member Reviews

With grateful thanks to netgalley for an early copy in return for an honest opinion.
Can I start by saying what a fabulous read this was from beginning to end held my attention the whole time.
Amazing characters who worked so well together, it really was a story off love and loss in during ww2 the sacrifices the love and hatred that encapsulated the village and in particular the beautiful chateau I want to give nothing away only that I highly recommend ❤

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2019: Imogen Wren’s a young widow, her husband passed away for years ago, and she’s still working for the same company as a house designer. In her spare time she visits her mother-in-law Denise, her sister Meg and reads. Imogen’s still morning James, all she lost when he died and how long can she continue doing this for? James and Imogen had plans to move to France, she decides she needs a change of pace, she moves to France and buys an abandoned chateau in Brittany.

Imogen discovers the locals don’t want to have anything to do with the chateau, none of the contractors she calls will even consider working for her and the chateau needs major structural repairs. During the Second World War, the chateau was taken over by the German’s, used as accommodation for officers and they think it's cursed. Like most towns in France, the Germans treated the residents terribly, punished anyone who was involved in the resistance and helped them.

1944: Simone Varon lives in the village of Tredion with her mother Marianne and her younger brother Pierre. Her mother runs a grocery shop, food is strictly rationed by the Germans and one officer in particular makes Simone feel very uncomfortable. Pierre’s a sickly child, he has asthma, his health is getting worse and medicine is in short supply. Not much gets past the Germans, they know Pierre’s very ill, they have medicine and can use this to force Simone do what they want. Simone plays the flute, a German officer demands she plays at the chateau, she tries to keep her distance from him and it gives her a chance to pass on information to the resistance.

Not all Germans are the same, Simone meets Max Becker, he’s kind and Simone has to be very careful that no one in the village sees her talking to a German soldier and they hate people who collaborate with the Germans. Simone has no idea, the event's she's caught up in during the war, will have devastating consequences, and the descendants of people living in the village will continue to carry a grudge against her family decades later.

As Imogen restores the fire damaged chateau, she’s determined to uncover the truth of what happened in Tredion during the war, she has no idea a vital clue has been left behind in a section of the chateau, and it will prove that Simone Varon wasn’t a collaborator. All That We Have Lost is a brilliant dual timeline historical fiction story, the characters of Imogen and Simone are both strong and brave women and I admired their resilience and courage. I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review, it's well written, hard to put down and five stars from me. I highly recommend reading both All That We Have Lost and Suzanne Fortin's previous book The Forgotten Life of Arthur Pettinger.

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What a wonderful dual time line story Suzanne Fortin has written in All That We Have Lost! Imogene Wren lost her husband, James, to a heart attack when he was 29 years old. The last four years she has merely existed until one day she overheard a coworker call her "The Android." She decided to move across the channel to France as she and James had talked about doing and buys a run down chateau in Tredion.

Simone is a teenager who lives in Tredion, France and plays the flute. The Germans have occupied her town, and she is anxious to help the resistance any way she can. She discovers not all German soldiers agree with Hitler. She begins to play the flute to entertain the German soldiers in the chateau at their parties to obtain information for the Allies, but some in town see here as a collaborator.

Laurent, Simone's grandson, wants to help Imogene restore the chateau. As their relationship develops, Imogene begins to have feelings for Laurent, but she feels as though he is hiding something. Simone's story and Imogene's story intertwine as the book progresses. This is a story of love, sacrifice, forgiveness, and getting through grief. It's a great read. I highly recommend it. I was allowed to read it on #NetGalley.

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All That We Have Lost by Suzanne Fortin is a dual timeline book that tells the current-day story of Imogen Wren, a Brit widow, who decides to start living her life again and purchases a fixer-upper chateau in a small town in France, while also telling the story of Simone Varon, an 18-year-old living in the same small town in 1944, when it was occupied by the Nazis. No spoilers - but the two stories do intertwine and the two strong women overcome all the struggles they are faced with. I loved it and couldn't put it down. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

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A great book. The story and characters are well done and the story will hold your interest. I particularly enjoyed the author’s use of present time and then went back into the past to really blend the plot into a great story.

Thank you to #NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

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A lovely generational historical fiction about two women, one living in 1944 during Germany’s occupation of France, the other from 2019 trying to rebuild her life in France. A story of love, fear, loss, grief, strength and empowerment. A very good read!

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Such a good historical novel with a great dual timeline. I really enjoyed it it captivated me from the start and I just wanted to keep on reading

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All That We Have Lost by Suzanne Fortin

A brilliant read that was a dual timeline set in modern day and WW2 .This book had it all, part romance , part mystery , throw in intrigue and a little history and you come up with this excellent book.
We have Imogen in the present day , who has just tragically just lost her husband . Inspite of that she makes the bold decision to move over to France to take on a place that needs a lot of work doing to it. She finds that the locals and builders shun coming to It to help her out.
Back to WW2 and Simone , living and surviving in occupied France and having to do things to help her family through terrible times.
The storylines are worked together very well making it a heartening and at times heartbreaking story.

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All That We Have Lost is told in two time lines that are related. In the modern timeline. Imogen Wren's husband unexpectedly dies of several years after they were married leaving her a young widow. In 2019, she decides to follow a dream that she had with her husband to move to France. She purchases an old abandoned Chateau that she falls in love with. This chateau is in ruins and needs major work done to it. The townspeople won't come near the Chateau and all local tradesmen in the area refuse to work on it. There seems to be a web of secrets surrounding the house that lead back to the war when the Germans occupied the Chateau.

The second story is set in 1944 when the German troops occupied the village. Simone Varon does her best to avoid any contact with the soldiers however one soldier begins to leave bottles of medicine for her sick brother. This soldier seems to always be keeping an eye out for her. She begins to realize that he is a genuinely good man that is forced into being a soldier. Another soldier that is not a good man forces her to play her flute at the parties at the Chateau. The two stories both have the Chateau in common. This is an excellent book that I recommend.

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This is a new author for me but absolutely enjoyed this story from page one. Read this in one day as just had to know and had to keep going. Brave Imogen and courageous Simone and throw in a lovely french man and a kind German into the mix and of course a beautiful chateau in need of tender loving care and with a mystery.
Would probably liked to have had a bit of an inside to what happened to Simone after 1944 but all in all loved this book.
Thank you NetGalley and Aria & Aries for the early read.

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