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    My Dear I Wanted to Tell You: A Novel
    My Dear I Wanted to Tell You: A Novel
    My Dear I Wanted to Tell You: A Novel
    Audiobook10 hours

    My Dear I Wanted to Tell You: A Novel

    Written by Louisa Young

    Narrated by Dan Stevens

    4/5

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    About this audiobook

    “My Dear I Wanted to Tell You is one of those books that doesn’t leave you, and probably never will.”
    —Jacqueline Winspear, New York Times bestselling author of the Maisie Dobbs novels

    The onrush of World War I irrevocably intertwines the lives of two young couples in Louisa Young’s epic tale of love in the midst of chaos. Perfect for readers of Atonement, The Mapping of Love and Death, and The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society, Young’s moving novel of class struggles, star-crossed romance, and the grim reality of the battlefield is a stunning exploration of the devastating consequences, physical and spiritual, of a world enmeshed in Total War.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateMay 6, 2014
    ISBN9780062356826
    Author

    Louisa Young

    Louisa Young was born in London and read history at Cambridge. She co-wrote the Lionboy series with her daughter, and is the author of eight further books including the bestselling My Dear I Wanted to Tell You, which was shortlisted for the Costa Novel Award, and was a Richard and Judy Book Club choice, and its acclaimed sequels The Heroes’ Welcome and Devotion. Her work is published in 36 languages. She lives in London.

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    Reviews for My Dear I Wanted to Tell You

    4/5

    133 ratings21 reviews

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    • 3/5
      I found this novel strangely unsatisfying.

      Set during the First World War, it covers various themes, including the beginning of the end of the Victorian/Edwardian class system; the effect of the war both on those at the Front and those left behind; and the advancement of medical procedures brought about by new levels of injury.

      The 'factual' side of the novel - the description of the medical procedures, life in the trenches, the effects of war injuries both physical and mental - are well-written and interesting. The story itself, though, just didn't flow for me. With the exception of Rose, I didn't feel engaged with the characters. I also found the writing style occasionally annoying. On the whole, it felt less than the sum of its parts.
    • 5/5
      I really enjoyed this book. It gave a real sense of the chaos of the time. I preferred it to Birdsong.
    • 5/5
      Simply beautiful. The storyline was achingly hard at times, but I was totally caught up in it. I cared deeply about the characters and found the writing superb.

      It was a wonderful choice for audio. It almost seemed as if the book was meant to be read aloud.
    • 2/5
      This was a reading group book and I was just really bored. The beginning is really boring, it improves slightly when the male character is injured but I was still bored. I just didn't care about any of the characters - in fact I often wanted to slap them for stupidity - particularly the useless vain wife. Not for me.
    • 4/5
      WWI epic of love and war My Dear I Wanted to Tell You (2012)

      by Louisa Young

      A touching look at the mettle of men and woman facing WWI
      2 couples are highlighted....upper crust Peter and Julia Locke and working-class Riley Purefoy and “well placed” Nadine Waveney.

      Their lives weave together and each are " tested to their personal limits by World War I.."
      The character of each relationship is shattered and remolded by the nature of their love and
      the atrocities of war.
      I thought characters were well developed and their inevitable intertwining was moving
      and well executed.

      I recommend this fictional look into the shadows of WWI
      4*
    • 5/5
      I loved this book for many reasons -- the author did a great job of weaving interesting, accurate historical detail into the story, balanced the horror of the war with the hopefulness and perseverance of the characters, and gave us just enough insight into the characters' thoughts and feelings without sacrificing the forward momentum of the plot. I'm looking forward to her next book about these characters -- "The Heroes' Welcome"
    • 4/5
      This book was every bit as good as I hoped it would be. The descriptions of war were at times horrific but necessary to convey the horror of war. The characterisation was excellent as was the historical detail, including some real life characters, which was a nice touch. I enjoyed the ending, a little predictable, but it tied up all the loose ends, which made me feel quite satisfied at the end. A very good read.
    • 4/5
      This is an ok book bit long winded in places. The main character is Riley Purefoy who signs up to join the British army and fight in World War 1.He leaves behind his girlfriend Nadine. Nadine is middle class and Riley is working class. On leave they get together and their love blossoms. When Riley returns to the front he suffers a terrible facial injury. He rejects her to save her feelings. Nadine throws herself into her work as a nurse. When the war is finished Riley has to pick up his captain from some London pub and returns him to the captains wife and child,Nadine is visiting aswell. Riley shows Nadine his face they agree to try and give their love a chance. OK book this its not true but some of the places and people are real. Alot of soldiers did have horrible injuries.
    • 3/5
      "My Dear, I wanted to tell you" is an original take on the always-popular horror of World War I as a fictional backdrop. Louisa Young’s novel is the story of Riley, Nadine, Julia and Peter, and how the war unpins all the certainties of their pre-conflict lives. As with millions of others, the horrors of the conflict force them to question and confront issues that, had it not happened, they would never have had to think about. Riley and Nadine are the main focus at the start, and they are fairly well developed characters, although the minor incident that led to their meeting and provided the foundations for the pain and distress of the next 12 years, seemed a bit unconvincing to me. They are both likeable characters, but I struggled to get past my prejudices telling me that the class structures of the early twentieth century could not have been so easily surmounted, even within such a bohemian set-up as the Waveney family.

      Young writes with assurance, creating a sense of urgency through her jerky style and, at times, uneven narrative. She switches from an almost stream of consciousness style of delivery, to more engaging descriptions and third-hand accounts, throughout the book. The first half though is fairly slow, and I found it hard to engage my attention to start with. But with the introduction of Peter Locke and his family, things take off and I really wanted to read on from this point. The descriptions of early facio-maxillary and reconstructive surgery are fascinating, and these scenes are so painful and poignant, especially when juxtaposed with the apparently meaningless life of Julia and her search for beauty through quack beauty treatments.

      I enjoyed My Dear, I wanted to tell you and would recommend the book, but I don’t think it quite lives up to the book cover hype of being a landmark literary event. It’s a slow-starter, but one that’s worth sticking with and provides a good read.


      © Koplowitz 2012
    • 5/5
      This was an outstanding piece of writing from an author who clearly has an awesome command of language. Concerning class prejudice in World War I and expanding to cover other - unexpected - topics, it was rich in detail and emotionally charged throughout. I loved the author’s style of writing, it is sort of combative, challenging, requiring the reader to sit up and take notice, interpret, think. I was astonished how well the national mindset of almost a hundred years ago was rendered. One section in particular I think about again and again, where Riley joins up on an impulse and has to state on the form he fills in his intended length of service. “One year or duration of war. Duration of war of course. He didn’t want to spend a whole year in the army.”Quite simply, this was a stunning book in every way. It was fascinating to read of its factual origins in the notes at the end, and learn that more books are to come about these characters. Excellent news!
    • 5/5
      Author Louisa Young has crafted a genuinely terrific historical fiction novel. Set in World War I England, this well paced book can certainly be classified under romance, but with an emphasis on the masculine. In Riley Purefoy we are witness to the unimaginable physical horrors of war while his commanding officer, Peter Locke, exemplifies the psychological effects of battle, as they fight for ground in Belgium. In turn, the women they love and who love them suffer their own tragedies of separation and self-identity. Through these two principal couples we confront what constitutes beauty, courage and a life worth living amid the inhumanity of the Great War.
    • 3/5
      Strictly speaking I didn't read this book. I listened to it. And I listened to it because it won the inaugural Audible.co.uk Audiobook of the Year Award at the Galaxy National Book Awards this year. I'm new to audio books and wanted to hear the "best". It is read by Dan Stevens who is best known for playing the part of Matthew Crawley in Downton Abbey (Note to self: get thee to a video shop and borrow the title that you keep hearing people talk about so you can nod sagely at Xmas parties). And yes he did a brilliant job.The story is set in and around WW1. We will be commemorating the centenary of WW1 in a couple of years so it is a good time to be reminded of the Great War...the War to end all wars...when an unimaginable number of people lost their lives...often over a disputed territory of some few miserable feet or even inches. This story chiefly concerns the fictional characters of Riley Purefoy and Nadine Waveney. Really when you think about it the plot is pretty conventional - will the star-crossed childhood sweethearts actually get together? But Louisa Young knows how to spin a good yarn and, what's more, I think, an original one. I haven't read a book about this aspect of the war before. Caution - spoiler alert. This book spends a large part talking about the maimed and wounded who return from the war. The stakes are heightened by Riley being the underdog - but a rather attractive underdog in the beginning - who shows some potential for a career in the art world. When Riley is horrifically wounded he wishes he had died instead and does his best to "save" his lover Nadine from having to care for an unloveable "monster". Beauty and the Beast in another guise really.But I do think the story has merit. Many accounts of war list the dead and we tend to focus on those who have been taken from us. But what about those that are left with broken bodies and souls - who have to live out the rest of their lives with bodies that don't function the way they used to. Whose families also have to adjust their lives to support them both physically and mentally. I found the accounts of the facial reconstructive surgery of the soldiers both gruesome but also intriguing. Interestingly the author's mother was a sculptor and I am now inclined to read her biography [A Great task of Happiness] to find out more about this subject.Young cleverly counterpoints this exploration of disfigurement with the sub-plot of another couple - Riley's Commanding Officer and his wife - Peter and Julia Locke. Peter's stiff upper lip is so stiff when he returns home on leave, your heart bleeds for him and his wife. So overwhelmed with the responsibility of the lives lost under his command at the front, he remains emotionally detached and when the war finally ends, puts off going home electing to stay in London, drinking away the pain. Julia, bewildered by his impenetrable exterior and bullied by her over-bearing mother, erroneously decides the problem must be of her making. She seeks endless, useless and expensive beauty treatments in an effort to win him back. It may sound ridiculous but are we in this day and age so very different? This is the second book I have read recently which does explore women in the early 1900s seeking beauty treatments. For some weird reason I thought this a recent phenomenon but no, the obsession with the body beautiful has always been with us in its many and varied forms.In summary - good stuff. Have you read it? What did you think?
    • 3/5
      I may have rated this book higher if I had not just read a similar story that was so much more interesting and satisfying. The relationship between the war wives was barely existent here and of very important consequence in Next to Love by Ellen Feldman. This was a good read about two WW1 couples and the ways they dealt with separation and serious injury. What was missing was the warmth and strong bonds in Next to Love.
    • 3/5
      Review for the unabridged audiobook.This book didn't really grab me, it felt a bit too drawn out. Although there are some fascinating, if lurid, descriptions of early cosmetic surgey techniques, used to repair damaged soldiers injured on the Front, it didn't seem to add much to other similar books I had read..We meet Riley Purefoy as he is being bombarded with snowballs by Nadine Waverney and her brother. He is brought back to their house to dry off and Nadine's mother takes rather a shine to him. Riley is from a working class background and Nadine's large home is very different to his reduced circumstances. So, when Mrs Waverney suggests that he help an aged artist, he leaps at the chance to earn some money and improve himself. Under the patronage of Sir Arthur, he receives an education and the bearings of a gentleman, but Nadine's parents are all too aware of his origins and do not wish their daughter to become too involved with him.Distressed by the way things have turned out, Riley signs up for the Great War and is shipped out to the horrors of France.His commanding officer is Peter Locke, a reliable man, who has left Julia, his beautiful but fickle wife, behind. She has always been known for her beauty and seems to have very little else to offer. She lives with Rose, Peter's sensible, but unmarried cousin.These five main characters, Riley, Nadine, Peter, Julia and Rose, interact in each other's lives throughout the war and it is these intertwining relationships that form the narrative of the book.Having read other reviewers' comments, I am wondering why I only rated this as 3 stars. Very much like discussing a book at a book group, I am seeing aspects of the novel that I missed at the time. However, as I was listening to the Audible version, I was wishing it finished, and the truth is that I didn't particularly enjoy it, especially the first half. So my rating reflects my feelings as I was listening, rather than that affected by other reviewers.
    • 5/5
      This book moved me. The characters navigate through the horrors of trench warfare and the transformation of the home front in World War One England. Ultimately, though, it's about their lives before and after the war as well as during it. I thrilled and shuddered with their triumphs and tragedies.
    • 5/5
      This was one of those books I simply could not put down once beginning!A lovely story of a young man overcoming the odds of poverty and ignorance in pre-WWI England. True love. Romance. And the feeling of losing that love, only to face an adversity that most would have shriveled and died from.It is also the view of the young woman who loves this boy, turned gentleman, turned soldier, and her unswerving faith and love in him.What a great story! I highly recommend this novel to anyone who believes that true love will, in fact, find a way! I give this book FIVE STARS!And my Thumbs Up Award!****DISCLOSURE:This book was provided for review through the Amazon Vine program.
    • 5/5
      This is the story of Riley Purefoy, a young working class boy who meets an upper class family, the Waveneys, and falls for Nadine, their daughter. When World War I breaks out, Riley joins up (he could choose to join up for a year or for the duration of the war, but chose the duration of the war because he didn't want to be in the army for a year!). It's also about Riley's commanding officer, Peter Locke, his flaky wife Julia, and his cousin Rose, who isn't beautiful like Julia,and will probably never marry now. The title is based around the field card that was sent by injured soldiers to their loved ones - they just filled in the blanks with what had happened, how serious etc. I thought this got off to a bit of a slow start, but then I realised this is the sort of book that is best read in larger chunks, to enable me to fully immerse myself in the story. I found it such a sad and moving story, and it brought tears to my eyes a couple of times. The bravery of not only the men, but also the women, who fought and served in the Great War really shines through in this book and I think the author has done an excellent job of getting across the horror of living and fighting through those times. I even felt for Julia, the one character who seems to do nothing but think about her looks, but is actually living through her own battles.I felt very satisfied when I got to the end of this book. A good ending and a great read.
    • 3/5
      How do ordinary people with normal faults and strengths cope when assaulted by the strains of war? My Dear, I Wanted to Tell You is an emotionally charged book about people affected by World War I.The novel reveals the horrors of war and the impact on two sets of lovers separated in the conflict. Riley and Nadine, a young couple in love, have an enduring bond even through they are separated by class. Riley enters war to prove he is a man and becomes the most complex, enduring character. Peter, Riley’s commanding officer, and his wife, Julia, do a jagged dance between love, lust and estrangement. Because Julia’s currency is her beauty and she is desperate for her husband’s attention, she spends most of the novel preoccupied with her appearance. Rose, Peter’s cousin, is a redemptive force, wanting the best for Peter and Julia. She shows tender compassion to Riley and the other soldiers she nurses. Her relationship with Nadine is particularly touching.Author Louisa Young grew up in London in the house in which Peter Pan was written. She authored the New York Times bestselling Lionboy trilogy for children. My Dear, I Wanted to Tell You marks her debut into adult novels. The book’s title is from a standardized field letter that wounded soldiers sent home to allay the fears of loved ones after receiving a telegram informing them of a battle injury. The most interesting aspect of My Dear, I Wanted to Tell You is the exploration into the beginnings of plastic surgery. At home, Julia seeks “featural surgery” to tuck a lagging chin. In the military hospitals, doctors reconstruct the faces of soldiers disfigured by gunshots. Cartilage and bone drawn from ribs are used to rebuild jaws and noses that are blown away. The juxtaposition of corrective plastic surgery and the wounded spirits of the battle-scarred soldiers establish irony. The early twentieth century doctors that experimented with facial reconstruction are to be commended, but how many soldiers returned home with their spirits permanently damaged by what today is known as PTSD?Riley says it well. “If your legs are shot to pieces no one expects you to keep going, but if your nerve, the machinery of your self-control, is shot to pieces, they do. It’s not your will, your desire, or willingness to fight on – it’s a separate part of you, but it’s one they don’t understand yet…”The author’s writing, although full of detail, is hard to follow. Ever-present inner thoughts in italics are distracting and interrupt the prose. The constantly changing points of view combined with pronouns used instead of the character’s name are confusing. Was the author’s intention to reflect the ravages of war by writing a book that seems scattered?In any event, the book is a realistic portrayal of the horrors of war and lives ravaged by its impact. Everyday life ceases to exist. To endure the upheaval the characters adopt bizarre coping mechanisms.Harper Collins provided the advance review copy. The opinions expressed are unbiased and wholly those of the reviewer.Reviewed by Holly Weiss, author of Crestmont
    • 5/5
      This moving historical novel tells the story of 5 people during World War I, and the opportunities, dangers and changes they face.Working class Riley Purefoy has had a grammar school education, and an insight into upper middle class artistic life. He has known Nadine Waveney since they met playing in Kensington Gardens as children, but her wealthy parents’ bohemian principles have their limits, and when they suspect a romantic attraction the two are kept apart. Nadine wants to study art at college but her mother is concerned that she shouldn’t jeopardise her prospects of a suitable marriage. Riley enlists and Nadine signs up as a VAD, a volunteer nurse. Peter Locke is Riley’s commanding officer, a rather sensitive soul, perhaps too sensitive. Julia is his beautiful wife, but what does a woman for whom this description has been a full time occupation do when he is away from her? Rose is Peter’s plain cousin, for whom the war offers the chance to be a person making a valuable contribution, not just a spinster.The title is taken from a form letter designed to help wounded soldiers write to their loved ones, and letters to and from the characters are used throughout the novel, shaping how we see the characters. Peter and Julia’s letters are significant for showing how little they know how to communicate with each other, and how far apart their worlds are now. Riley and Nadine exchange more interesting letters, and I really liked Nadine’s willingness to tell Riley how she felt, including expressing anger with him as well as love.Many of the ingredients of Louisa Young’s novel are familiar to anyone who has read much about WWI, but I found it a powerful, absorbing page turner. I liked Riley and Nadine much more than Peter and the foolish Julia. I would have liked to see Rose have more of a story in her own right; I felt that she stayed more of an observer and commentator on the stories of others in the novel.Clearly Young has researched extensively, and she uses this to good effect in informing the fiction and evoking the setting. I liked the critique of class divisions made in the novel, especially in Riley’s story. Nadine’s support for feminist causes of her day made her my favourite character.Young also brings in a story about the development of plastic surgery, originally as a treatment for soldiers disfigured in combat, although this is contrasted with it being offered, almost immediately, as a cosmetic treatment for non-combatants obsessed with their looks.My Dear I Wanted to Tell You is a fascinating historical novel and a memorable love story. Recommended.I received my copy of this book free through the Amazon Vine programme.
    • 2/5
      I received a free copy of My Dear I Wanted To Tell You by Louisa Young through Amazon's Vine program.Young's story revolves around four main characters, Nadine and Riley, a young couple in love and Peter and Julia, a young married couple. The setting is during WWI England/France and the main focus of the story seems to be about how the war impacts them individually and their relationships as well.I wanted to like this story. WWI and WWII Fiction is a genre I truly enjoy. However, I had a hard time with the book from the beginning. It was convoluted, as though the author wasn't too sure of where she was going with the story. The characters had great potential, but were not as well developed as they could have been. Therefore, I felt like I was missing something through much of the book. Often the story did not flow smoothly.One positive aspect of the book is that I did like the story concept. Even though I felt the author did not fully develop the characters, I did find myself caring about them and wanting to know what happened to them. This could be an excellent book with a little more polish. However, since there are so many well written novels in this genre, this is not one that I would recommend to a reader looking for a new read.
    • 5/5
      Also brilliant and deserves to be a huge success in 2011. Everyone should read it and pass it on.