Publisher: Bloomsbury
Pages: 288
Pages: 288
Source: Review
Genre: YA (14+) - Historical fiction
Genre: YA (14+) - Historical fiction
Violence | Sexual Content | Profanity
My Rating:
 |
| Awe-inspiring |
My thoughts
Poppy in the Field is a continuation of Poppy by Mary Hooper. As the title suggests, we, once again, follow the hopeful young VAD Poppy who decides to apply for a position at a base hospital in France in the wake of turbulent heartbreak that has come with the recent news of her love Freddie's marriage to a sophisticated debutante.
Hooper has evidently done extensive research and in amongst the pages there is ample amount of descriptive detail that places you right in the time period. From the character portrayals to the world building to the language used, Hooper excels at creating the right environment in her writing.
Poppy is such a relatable character. As a newly registered nurse myself (I will not make any distinction between myself and her - a VAD, which I believe is the equivalent to an AIN), I could empathise with many of the struggles and hurdles that Poppy had to overcome during her nursing career. The cases of men in this book are, of course, of a more critical nature than my own patients (being a paediatric nurse that is only natural), but I think back to when I did my training... I felt very at home with her character - traces of her personality and situations I could see in myself. She is, overall, just here to do good. She wants to make the world a better place and oftentimes comments on the meaninglessness of the war and mortality. I can identify with her strong moral conduct easily, and found her to be a generally well-written heroine.
There is a romance in this book, as expected, and the love interest could be seen from miles away (hint: he was in the first book!). This predictability, however, did not detract from the sweetness and adorableness of the progression of their relationship. Although a bit hasty, but I suppose that can be related to the nature of the world they live in. In all honesty I got excited whenever they were together. It's possible that my reading this book was relatively quick was due to the fact that I wanted them to just GET TOGETHER ALREADY!!!
The writing style is easy to follow. In light of the difficult subject matter I was able to breeze through this novel, Hooper is to be commended in this way. The dialogue seemed quite authentic too.
The ending felt a tad rushed, like the author just wanted to get this book done ASAP. I was left wanting more detail, more insight into the future for all of the characters... but maybe it was the author's decision to leave some missing pieces, for the reader to fill in the blanks. In any case, the bigger issues and plot points had been tied up. I guess I just want more.
Quotes
First line: 'Pearson!'
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I have received this review copy in return for an honest review.
