Bonus Episode - Alternate Histories #2: The Poppy Wife
11/22/19 • 12 min
Today on Alternate Histories, I am joined by Caroline Scott, who "is a freelance writer and historian specializing in WWI and women's history, with a PhD from Durham University. Born in the UK, Caroline currently resides in France. She has published two nonfiction books on WWI."
"The Poppy Wives," Caroline's first novel, is set in 1921 and follows "survivors of the Great War who are desperately trying to piece together the fragments of their broken lives. While many have been reunited with their loved ones, Edie’s husband Francis is still missing. Francis is presumed to have been killed in action, but Edie knows he is alive.
Harry, Francis’s brother, was there the day Francis went missing in Ypres. And like Edie, he’s hopeful Francis is living somewhere in France, lost and confused. Hired by grieving families in need of closure, Harry returns to the Western Front to photograph soldiers’ graves. As he travels through France gathering news for British wives and mothers, he searches for evidence his own brother is still alive.
When Edie receives a mysterious photograph that she believes was taken by Francis, she is more certain than ever he isn’t dead. Edie embarks on her own journey in the hope of finding some trace of her husband. Is he truly gone, or could he still be alive? And if he is, why hasn’t he come home?
As Harry and Edie’s paths converge, they get closer to the truth about Francis and, as they do, are soon faced with the life-changing impact of the answers they discover.
An incredibly moving account of an often-forgotten moment in history—those years after the war that were filled with the unknown—The Poppy Wife tells the story of the thousands of soldiers who were lost amid the chaos and ruins in battle-scarred France; and the even greater number of men and women hoping to find them again."
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Like the podcast? Please subscribe and leave a review! Follow @CMTUHistory on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram & TikTok
Today on Alternate Histories, I am joined by Caroline Scott, who "is a freelance writer and historian specializing in WWI and women's history, with a PhD from Durham University. Born in the UK, Caroline currently resides in France. She has published two nonfiction books on WWI."
"The Poppy Wives," Caroline's first novel, is set in 1921 and follows "survivors of the Great War who are desperately trying to piece together the fragments of their broken lives. While many have been reunited with their loved ones, Edie’s husband Francis is still missing. Francis is presumed to have been killed in action, but Edie knows he is alive.
Harry, Francis’s brother, was there the day Francis went missing in Ypres. And like Edie, he’s hopeful Francis is living somewhere in France, lost and confused. Hired by grieving families in need of closure, Harry returns to the Western Front to photograph soldiers’ graves. As he travels through France gathering news for British wives and mothers, he searches for evidence his own brother is still alive.
When Edie receives a mysterious photograph that she believes was taken by Francis, she is more certain than ever he isn’t dead. Edie embarks on her own journey in the hope of finding some trace of her husband. Is he truly gone, or could he still be alive? And if he is, why hasn’t he come home?
As Harry and Edie’s paths converge, they get closer to the truth about Francis and, as they do, are soon faced with the life-changing impact of the answers they discover.
An incredibly moving account of an often-forgotten moment in history—those years after the war that were filled with the unknown—The Poppy Wife tells the story of the thousands of soldiers who were lost amid the chaos and ruins in battle-scarred France; and the even greater number of men and women hoping to find them again."
Want to listen to new episodes a week earlier and get exclusive bonus content? Consider becoming a supporter of the podcast on Patreon!
Like the podcast? Please subscribe and leave a review! Follow @CMTUHistory on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram & TikTok
Previous Episode
The Girl on the Velvet Swing with Simon Baatz
We are discussing true crime on the podcast today. My guest for this episode is the historian and author Simon Baatz. Simon is a New York Times best-selling author and currently teaches American legal history at John Jay College, City University of New York He joins me via Skype to discuss his latest book "The Girl in the Velvet Swing: Sex, Murder, and Madness at the Dawn of the Twentieth Century" about the 1906 murder of a prominent New York architect at the hands of a millionaire playboy in front of hundreds in a theater at Madison Square Garden. At the center of the murder and the sensational trial that followed was a young Broadway chorus girl named Evelyn Nesbit.
NOTE TO PARENTS: This episode does deal with the grown-up theme of sexual assault and may not be suitable for listening in the presence of little ears.
To learn more about Simon Baatz, visit www.simonbaatz.com.
Want to listen to new episodes a week earlier and get exclusive bonus content? Consider becoming a supporter of the podcast on Patreon!
Like the podcast? Please subscribe and leave a review! Follow @CMTUHistory on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram & TikTok
Next Episode
The Life and Afterlife of Harry Houdini with Joe Posnanski
Harry Houdini. Nearly a century after his death, he remains a household name that is synonymous with magic. In fact, Houdini has become a verb in our common vernacular meaning "to vanish, or escape a difficult situation quickly."
Today, I am joined by bestselling author Joe Posnanski to discuss his new book, "The Life and Afterlife of Harry Houdini," which looks at the remarkable career of the world's most recognizable magician and tries to untangle some of the myths surrounding Houdini's life that have even baffled some of his many biographers over the years.
Joe is an award-winning sports journalist and bestselling author whose prior biography on Joe Paterno reached #1 on the New York Times bestseller list. In our conversation, Joe and I discuss how an immigrant named Erich Weiss transformed himself into a legend named Harry Houdini, how he pushed the envelope of danger to become the world's leading escape artist, and what continued to drive Houdini even at the height of his fame and success.
To learn more about Joe Posnanski, visit www.joeposnanski.com.
Want to listen to new episodes a week earlier and get exclusive bonus content? Consider becoming a supporter of the podcast on Patreon!
Like the podcast? Please subscribe and leave a review! Follow @CMTUHistory on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram & TikTok
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