My Dear I Wanted to Tell You

A Novel

By: Louisa Young

Narrated by: Dan Stevens

The lives of two very different couples - an officer and his aristocratic wife, and a young soldier and his childhood sweetheart - are irrevocably intertwined and forever changed in this stunning World War I epic of love and war.

At 18 years old, working-class Riley Purefoy and - posh - Nadine Waveney have promised each other the future, but when war erupts across Europe, everything they hold to be true is thrown into question. Dispatched to the trenches, Riley forges a bond of friendship with his charismatic commanding officer, Peter Locke, as they fight for their survival. Yet it is Locke's wife, Julia, who must cope with her husband's transformation into a distant shadow of the man she once knew. Meanwhile, Nadine and Riley's bonds are tested as well by a terrible injury and the imperfect rehabilitation that follows it, as both couples struggle to weather the storm of war that rages about them.

Moving among Ypres, London, and Paris, this emotionally rich and evocative novel is both a powerful exploration of the lasting effects of war on those who fight - and those who don't - and a poignant testament to the enduring power of love.

©2011 Louisa Young (P)2014 HarperCollins Publishers

Sweet, sad, and Delicious

Loved this story, and how well written it was. Dan Stevens did such a beautiful job reading the characters, and I feel made the story that much more amazing. Definitely worth listening to a couple of times.

Wonderful narration

Dan Stevens is a joy to listen to. Wonderful job. What a detailed story of love and the horrors of war. Real.

Dan Stevens is perfection.

I’ve decided Dan could read the back of a milk carton and be captivating. The story,1st of a series, was hard for me to follow. Had I been reading I would have had to go back and see who this person was several times as we jump from character to character. The second book was much easier to follow. After I read the second one I went back and read the first book again and really enjoyed it. I don’t know how you can fix that but a lot of people review that they don’t like the first part of the book when in fact it’s the best part. Dan has an identifiable voice for each character. He is English but You can understand every single word. At one point he has the voice of an American and it’s flawless. To review all the subtly of Dans reading is impossible.

Perfection

An exquisite, heartbreaking experience made even more special by the talented voice of Dan Stevens.

Superb WWI literary fiction

This is a moving account of the challenges both men and women, their families and commanding officers, faced during World War I. The writing is quite evocative of the horrors or war, the sensibilities of the soldiers, as well as of those at home. I find it one of the very best novels I have read of the period and I feel lucky to have discovered it. I fear it is being marketed as chic lit (the title does it no favors), for it is serious material. I did a little online research into Dr. Gillies, and I urge readers to read about him and view the images of his patients. This novel will stay with me for some time.

Fantastic!

Between the authors words and Dan
Stevens voice this story of WWI was brought to life in all its glory and horror of those years. Wonderful book. I can’t wait to listen to the next one.

Beautiful book, beautifully read

War is hell and only love can heal. Must every generation be scarred afresh? Enough!

A vivid description of the psychology of WWI.

This is not just a World War I love story, it is a detailed insight into the psychology of the men and women who were engulfed in the war. The enthusiasm of being able to join for perhaps a few months (as they thought), through the hell of the battles and trench warfare and then the difficult return to the reality of civilized life with both physical and psychological wounds. All this intertwined with the other major source of human conflict, that of love.

Well written and narrated, definitely worth the listen.

Heartbreakingly Beautiful

I chose this book because Dan Steven's read it, I fell in love with it because of Riley, the beautiful, strong, honest boy who takes you through the story of his life, and the lives of those around him during World War 1.

Amazing!

This was an amazing book about a topic that I had never heard about before… I thought the writing was excellent and the performance was superb. The story was heartbreaking and redemptive. Thanks so much to the author for shedding light on a topic about which I’ve heard so little.