7 Books Like The Poppy Field

The first half of the book was absolutely enthralling, packed with tense drama and emotional depictions of front-line medical care during the Vietnam War. The second half, after the main character returns home from war, drags a bit in places and fixates on some toxic relationships. Despite those rough patches, I picked it as a favorite this year for its unique take on the nurses' story, an often-overlooked part of history.

Adam Grant explores how success is not solely determined by innate talent but can be cultivated through effort, support, and the right strategies. Here are the key themes and insights from the book:
1. Growth Mindset: Grant challenges the idea that potential is fixed, advocating for a growth mindset where abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work.
2. Character Skills: Traits like grit, curiosity, and emotional intelligence are highlighted as crucial for long-term success, often more so than cognitive abilities.
3. Supportive Environments: The role of mentors, coaches, and supportive peers is emphasized in fostering personal growth. Grant illustrates how a nurturing environment can transform potential.
4. Deliberate Practice: The book delves into the science of skill development, stressing the importance of deliberate practice, feedback, and learning from failure.
5. Psychological Safety: Grant discusses the importance of creating environments where individuals feel safe to take risks and make… show more.

I first read this book about twenty years ago and still find it heartbreaking to think it was written by someone who experienced first-hand the horror of the First World War and with it so much pain and grief brought about not only from her experiences as a V.A.D. but also from her own personal losses.

It is a book that helped me understand as much as anything possibly could living in the twenty-first century, how much of a struggle it must have been for ordinary people to keep going and survive that dark time in history.

I love this book because it is a war novel without a single battlefield or battle, except the one for Siegfried Sassoon’s sanity. I became fascinated by WWI as a teenager. I can’t say why this war caught my imagination, but it did, and that fascination has continued for my whole life.

I gobbled up books, movies, and history about the war, and I especially loved the poetry of Siegfried Sassoon, a noted poet and war hero who publicly refused to continue fighting in 1917. When I re-read his poetry fifty years later, I found a kinship with that refusal and the boys around me who were conscientious objectors to the Vietnam War.

I was a dreamy, romantic teenager, which is why Sassoon’s words pierced my heart: “Soldiers are dreamers; when the guns begin they think of firelit homes, clean beds, and wives.” Oh! How I cried over his poems… show more.

A brilliant, shocking read but one I’ve read several times, and each time I read it the claustrophobic feeling of being trapped underground leaves me feeling breathless.

Although graphic in places, this is a beautifully written novel that I know I’ll return to time and again. As an author of World War One fiction, I aim to bring a sense of how it felt to be my characters and this book achieves that perfectly as far as I’m concerned.

This is the first novel I read about grieving families who commissioned photographers to search for the place where their loved one died, in order that a photo could be taken for them to have as a keepsake.

I love learning something new when I read a book and I discovered so much about the after-effects of losing someone without having knowledge of their last moments and a place to pay one’s respects. 

This is about Edie, a widow wanting answers about her husband who she believes might still be alive, despite being classed as ‘missing, presumed dead’ in 1917. She commissions her late husband’s brother to search for him and photograph his final resting place, if indeed there is one.

A wonderful, haunting story of enduring love and loss.

My WW1 novel was about four friends one of whom suffers horrific facial injuries, so when a friend recommend this book I felt compelled to read it. 

During WW1 some park benches were painted blue to warn locals that the person sitting there might have distressing injuries. Set in 1920, Edward was once known as The Lucky Lieutenant before suffering a disfigurement bad enough to warrant wearing a mask to cover his injuries. He struggles to cope with the pain but travels to Margate with his closest friend, William.

Edward is a brilliant pianist and finds work at The Winter Gardens where he and William meet two women, Catherine and Evelyn. I always wonder what happened to people after the war and this book depicted that extremely well.