The Verdun Affair by Nick Dybek
“Oh! What a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive” could be the beginning of this book. It starts with a little lie that becomes very complicated only heightened by the devastation of the World War 1 in France.
Many Americans traveled to England and France to assist during the war; one of those was ambulance driver Tom. Now after the war, Tom assists those searching for the missing and dead in Verdun. (The city in France where one of the most devastating battles of the war was waged.) When Tom meets Sarah Hagen, professionalism takes a detour when he tells her he knew her husband during the war and goes to great lengths to assist her to find him.
Much attention is given to a young amnesiac referred to as Douglas Fairbanks (after the silent screen star). The shell-shocked Mr. Fairbanks is quite the mystery and gains the attention of an Austrian journalist named Paul. Tom, Paul, and Sarah become friends but each of them keeps their demons secret from each other, and as the story unfolds, so too unfolds the mystery of the amnesiac.
When Paul and Tom reunite in LA in 1950, will their secrets be revealed? And just who is the amnesiac?
I hope you will enjoy a new twist on an old story of love and war.