A review by suebee135
The Railwayman's Wife by Ashley Hay

5.0

A poignant, post WWII novel set in New South Wales, The Railwayman’s Wife is the type of book you wish you could step into, if just for a moment, to make everything right. Some novels make it difficult to just sit back and watch…

Ani Lachlan, her husband Mac, and their daughter Isabel live in what Ani considers “the most beautiful place in the world”, a lovely cottage in a village nestled between the mountains and the sea. But not even this idyllic village can shelter its people from heartbreak and tragedy. Not the local doctor, returned from war but still haunted by the lives he couldn’t save. Not the young poet whose writing once flourished on the battlefield but is now uninspired and hollow. And not Ani, who turns to her love of books to find solace and healing after her own personal tragedy. Three people whose lives are connected in ways even they do not realize. One person whose life might be saved with just one word.
Beautifully written, atmospheric and haunting, my heart broke for these characters during their darkest hours, and cheered for them as they tried to find their way in this new world.