Marina Larsson made me cry. Not just for the lives of the people she documents, but for my own family, my father's alcoholism and the all those things that couldn't be talked about.

There is a world of difference between the treatment of injured veterans from World War One and World War Two. But there was more than enough similarity that I could hear the echoes in my own life. Repat (Repatriation, shorthand for the Department of Veterans Affairs) was a word I hadn't thought about for decade, but it still held its power - even as a child, I understood that anything to do with Repat was to be regarded with suspicion, wariness and an uneasy silence.

With this book, Marina reminds us how powerful the discipline of history can be. A close reading of the sources, interviews with descendants and a beautiful clear voice help us to understand that the past.

I loved this book, even though it made me cry. In fact, because it made me cry. ( )