When I Come Home Again by Caroline Scott

Synopsis
1918. In the last week of the First World War, a uniformed soldier is arrested in Durham Cathedral. When questioned, it becomes clear he has no memory of who he is or how he came to be there.

The soldier is given the name Adam and transferred to a rehabilitation home. His doctor James is determined to recover who this man once was. But Adam doesn’t want to remember. Unwilling to relive the trauma of war, Adam has locked his memory away, seemingly for good.

When a newspaper publishes a feature about Adam, three women come forward, each claiming that he is someone she lost in the war. But does he believe any of these women? Or is there another family out there waiting for him to come home?

Review
Last year Caroline Scott’s first novel, The Photographer Of The Lost was one of favourite reads of the year. With When I Come Home she again sets her novel after the the First World War, focusing on the aftermath and the the effect on those left behind. This subject of this book is a soldier who has no memory of the war, or his life before the war. After being arrested in Durham Cathedral, the soldier, given the name Adam, is taken to Fellside House in Westmorland to recuperate and hopefully recover his memory. After two years his photograph is published in the paper to help find out who is. After a huge redponse three women come forward to claim him, but can Adam remember and find his family. This is a heartbreaking, emotional and utterly compelling read with a mystery at it’s centre.

What I loved about Caroline Scott’s first novel was that it focused on those left after the war, families wanting photographs of where there loved one died and the women who kept on searching for them. Again, in this book the attention is on those looking for loved ones, but more importantly on a soldier who has no memory. Adam has no idea how he came to be at Durham Cathedral, and no recollection of his life before this point. At Fellside House, under the care doctor James Haworth, Adam’s personality shines through, he is obviously intelligent and well educated as he knows all about nature, flora and fauna, animals including their Latin names and is a skilled at drawing, especially the face of an unknown woman. It his walks in the wood and working in the garden that make him happy and at one with himself. Interstingly he doesn’t really want to remember his past, to address the horrors he may have seen and that were the root of his memory loss, he wants to be who he is now and stay at Fellsde where he feels safe. Adam is obviously uncomfortable after his photo is published and he comes face to face with three women, Ceelia, Anna and Lucy who all believe he could be their son, husband and brother. All three women are desperate for Adam to be theirs, to fill that gap in their lives and mend their hearts after being told their loved one is missing in the war. Their desperation, grief, longing and hope drip off the page and into your heart as you learn more of their story. Interstingly Adam feels a sort of guilt at not being able to remember and give them all what they want, himself. Woven in with Adam’s story is that of his doctor James Haworth and his wife Caitlin. James is also suffering from the war, and the death of Caitlin’s brother Nathaniel. James feels guilt towards Nathianel’s death especially as he was Caitlin’s twin, and he was with him when he died. This just goes to show that even doctors aren’t immune to the horrors of the war.

The opening chapter to this book is one of the most beautiful I have read; a metaphor of Adam’s situation, bird trapped inside flying helplessly around not knowing how to get out. Nature plays an important role in the book, it is the constant of Adam’s life, even a common denominator with the three women who come forward to claim him; he is comforted by it’s permanence, that it will be there long after he dies. Caroline Scott paints a beautiful picture of the landscape of Westmoland, as it changes through the seasons and years both naturally and through Adam’s attention. Today we know the importance of getting outside, going for a walk, seeing nature on our mental health, and it is the saving grace of Adam.

Caroline Scott’s prose is beautifully lyrical, in it’s descriptions and in her emapthy and understanding of those effected by the War. The majority of WWI novels are centered around the trenches and the horrific conditions and huge death toll of the battles. Caroline Scott gives a new perspective, on a man who survives those horrors and on those whose loved ones who are just reported as missing, giving them no closure. The stories of Anna, Celia and Lucy are heartbreaking, their conviction of Adam belonging to them, convincing themselves even in doubt, their need to heal. Through James’s story and that of the other residents at Fellside House we see that even those who came back are changed forever, feel guilt and having nightmares about the horrors they saw; no one came out of this unscathed.

I have no doubt that like her first book, When I Come Home Again will be one of my favourite reads of the year. I was gripped by the mystery surrounding Adam, and if he would prove to be related to one of the three women who came forward. I became invested in his and their lives, becoming emotionally attached to the outcome of Adam’s story. Caroline Scott’s beautiful prose captures the setting, characters and the emotions perfectly and with understanding. I didn’t think she could surpass The Photographer Of The Lost but she has with When I Come Home Again, capturing the tragedy of the war one those who survived and the families at home; stunning.

If you want to learn more about Caroline Scott’s first novel The Photographer Of The Lost you can read my review here The Photographer of the Lost by Caroline Scott

I would like to thank Anne Cater and Simon & Schuster for the invite to the blog tour in return for my honest review.