LIES TOLD IN SILENCE by M.K. Tod

Note: I am not a paid reviewer, and I have purchased this title to read for my personal enjoyment.

A tale of a French family’s WW1 saga beginning with comfortable, pre-war society life in Paris that is upended when father Henri Noisette sends his mother, wife, son and sixteen-year-old daughter Helene to a small village that turns out to be close to the Vimy Ridge battlefield. The story flows with vivid descriptions of the Noisette women acclimating to the countryside, and dialogue that weaves in period political and military detail. Family tensions boil as Henri’s position keeps him away, yet family members become closer in the trying circumstances of the war. In alternating points of view among Henri, his mother, wife, and Helene, characters grapple with timeless conflicts such as duty to the family or pursuit of personal happiness; honesty or deceptions designing to protect; and personal choices that run afoul of society’s norms. The heart of the story is the coming-of-age of Helene, who finds her place in the family and wartime romance with a Canadian soldier, and is confronted with the most difficult choices faced by any Noisette. The authenticity of the book is enjoyable, and the prose has a steady flow.