Hush: A Short Story from Fall of Poppies: Stories of Love and the Great War
By Hazel Gaynor
()
About this ebook
New York Times bestselling author Hazel Gaynor captivates with a beautifully rendered short story about the strength of a mother’s love as the Great War comes to an end at last . . .
As the final moments tick down to the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, signaling the end of fighting, midwife Annie Rawlins is doing everything she can to save an infant’s life. Too many have lost too much and Annie prays that the time for sorrow has passed. Meanwhile across the fields of France her son, Will, is on patrol one last time, clinging to thoughts of home and doing all he can to make it there. As the Armistice bells ring out, Annie and Will must fight one last time to grasp the hope of a new life and a new day.
Originally published in the moving collection Fall of Poppies: Stories of Love and the Great War, this e-book also includes an excerpt from Gaynor’s new novel, The Girl from The Savoy, coming in June 2016.
Hazel Gaynor
Hazel Gaynor is an award-winning New York Times and USA Today bestselling author known for her deeply moving historical novels which explore the defining events of the 20th century. A recipient of the 2015 RNA Historical Novel of the Year award, her work has since been shortlisted for multiple awards in the UK and Ireland. Her latest novel, The Last Lifeboat, was a Times of London historical novel of the month, shortlisted for the 2023 Irish Book Awards and recipient of the 2024 Audie Award for Best Fiction Narrator. Hazel’s work has been translated into twenty languages and is published in twenty-seven territories to date. She lives in Ireland with her family.
Read more from Hazel Gaynor
A Memory of Violets: A Novel of London's Flower Sellers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Three Words for Goodbye: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fall of Poppies: Stories of Love and the Great War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related to Hush
Related ebooks
Island Of Sweet Pies And Soldiers Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe War in Our Hearts Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Summer of Lost and Found Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Wartime Sisters: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5From the Ashes: Berlin Fractured, #1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWar Girls Box Set: Books 5-8 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Secret of Raven Point: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Jam and Roses Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Shadows of Berlin: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Promised to the Crown Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Chocolatier: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Librarian of Saint-Malo Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Custard Tarts and Broken Hearts Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A White Wind Blew: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Rose Villa Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Swirling Tides: A Tiger Mother's Journey Toward Love Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Come from Away Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5All For the Love of You: A Short Story from Fall of Poppies: Stories of Love and the Great War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Night Traveler: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Next Ship Home: A Novel of Ellis Island Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Call of the Wrens Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Egret Cove Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPromises to Keep Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Weight of the Heart Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Girls in Navy Blue: A Novel Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBeneath the Veil of Smoke and Ash: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The End is Where We Begin: 'Moving and absorbing' Fiona Valpy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Lightness in My Soul Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsInto the Unknown - A wrenching Cold War adventure in Germany's Soviet occupied zone: Berlin Fractured, #4 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Historical Fiction For You
The Light Between Oceans: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Grapes of Wrath Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Demon Copperhead: A Pulitzer Prize Winner Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Rebecca Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5We Have Always Lived in the Castle Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5East of Eden Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Last Kingdom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lady Tan's Circle of Women: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sold on a Monday: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Second Life of Mirielle West: A Haunting Historical Novel Perfect for Book Clubs Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Yellow Wife: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This Tender Land: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Carnegie's Maid: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Canterbury Tales Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Kitchen House: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Clockmaker's Daughter: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Girls in the Stilt House: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Euphoria Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The House of Eve Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Rules of Magic: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Red Tent - 20th Anniversary Edition: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Book of Magic: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5That Bonesetter Woman: the new feelgood novel from the author of The Smallest Man Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Poisonwood Bible: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Cloud Cuckoo Land: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Island of Sea Women: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hallowe'en Party: Inspiration for the 20th Century Studios Major Motion Picture A Haunting in Venice Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Magic Lessons: The Prequel to Practical Magic Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related categories
Reviews for Hush
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
Hush - Hazel Gaynor
Dedication
For Dad and Grandpa Tom.
With love.
Contents
Dedication
Hush
Buy Link to Fall of Poppies
An Excerpt from The Girl from The Savoy
About the Author
Also by Hazel Gaynor
Credits
Copyright
About the Publisher
Hush
Monday, November 11, 1918
10:58 A.M.
ANNIE RAWLINS STOOPS OVER THE PALE, LIFELESS FORM AT the foot of the bed, her back turned to the narrow lattice window of the station master’s cottage. She checks the small watch pinned to her apron and notes the time. Time is everything now. Time is what the infant doesn’t have; what none of them have had since the war started. Too often, Annie has seen how everything can change in an instant: a gas attack, a sniper’s bullet, a shell explosion, the dreaded telegram from the War Office: The King commands me to assure you of the true sympathy of His Majesty and the Queen in your sorrow. Another son, lost. Another mother’s heart, shattered. Moments that arrive in a sudden second and roar endlessly on, forever affecting the remaining fragments of a broken life.
She looks at the helpless infant. A child, much longed for. A life, slipping silently away. She takes a deep breath, gathers her thoughts, and draws on all her years of experience.
Come along now,
she urges, working quickly to clear the mouth and nose. "Breathe, won’t you. You must breathe."
The weak winter sun flickers against the rain-speckled glass at the window, hesitant to come inside. If only it would. Annie is certain that everything would be all right then. "Everything feels better with the sun on your face. Don’t you think, Mam? She sees her boys standing by the back door. Jack, the eldest, has his eyes closed. A carefree smile at his lips as the autumn sun bathes his face in a soft buttery glow. So handsome in his uniform. And there’s Will, kicking at the dirt, his eyes red with angry tears because he is too young to go.
It’s not fair. I always miss out on the fun. She wraps her arms around him, hugging him tight to her, nuzzling her nose into his thick black hair. She is glad of his tears; glad he cannot go.
It’ll all be over by Christmas," Jack had said as he’d kissed her good-bye on the station platform.
It’ll all be over by Christmas.
For Jack, it was. His war was over before most men had even arrived to fight. She sees his face and hears his voice as clearly as if he were standing beside her now. But he isn’t. Never will be. There’s only Will now. Out there. Somewhere in France. That’s what his letters say. How her arms ache to hold him. She would fight for him if she could, would become his bones, his skin, his very breath, if only he could come home safe to her.
Sensing the long shadows cast by her boys’ absence and Annie’s fear for the infant, the sun creeps quietly away from the station master’s cottage. It ducks behind a cloud, drawing the pale yellow light from the room. The fragile life in front of Annie fades with it.
She struggles on. Come along now,
she urges. "You’ve got to fight. You have to. You must breathe. Breathe."
The infant’s appalling silence fills the room like an autumn mist rolling down the valley, drifting away from the tiny form to settle uncomfortably against the framed pictures of stern-looking men and women on the oak chest, against the rose-patterned ewer on the night stand, against the faded hearth rug and the splintered floorboards, against the distempered walls and the blackened grate of the smoldering fire; the simple possessions of a hardworking, loving family. The simple possessions of a man who valued life too much to fight. Annie knows the names they call him. Conchie. Feather Boy. She has watched this family’s suffering and wishes them no ill. Death doesn’t belong here. Not today.
The silence is disturbed momentarily by the mother’s soft moans. My child. Where’s my baby? Why doesn’t it cry?
Her words drift through the fog of laudanum that clouds her mind, her questions a broken