Snapshots From Home by Sasha Wasley is a historical romance novel based on a true event during World War I. The story is suspenseful with family drama, relationships, friendships, loss and hope.
The Snapshots from Home League was a scheme run by the YMCA to boost the morale of soldiers fighting overseas. A soldier could request a photo from home to be sent to them.
It’s 1917, and World War I has been going on for three years. Edie’s home is in Guilford, a suburb of Perth. She lives with her father, and her mother and brother both have passed. Her brother Aubrey died early in the war. He had been teaching Edie photography in secret, as their father wouldn’t approve.
Although they are reasonably well off, her father aspires for her to marry into money and is fostering relationships in view of finding a marriage for Edie.
Edie has taken a teaching position at Miss Raison’s School for Girls in York. Living away from home allows her some freedom from her moody and critical father.
A friend gifts Edie a camera and encourages her to join The Snapshots from Home League.
Kitty Macmillan, ten years old and an enthusiastic student of Edie’s, volunteers to be her assistant. Kitty knows every family, house and farm in the district. The Macmillan family run a portrait gallery. Many requests were for outlying farms and Kitty organises her brother Teddy to transport them. It is allowed as long as Kitty accompanies them as a chaperone.
On these journeys, Edie’s ideas are challenged as Teddy is a conscientious objector and heated debates take place.
Edie’s photographic skills are challenged as she takes photos of family, babies, tractors, livestock, crops, houses and basically any subject that has been requested.
Her eyes are opened to the class divides and opinions of others, causing Edie to question her own values and those of her father.
When her father arranges a marriage to Digby Hammond, the son of a wealthy factory owner, Edie is horrified. She knows the consequences of going against his will.
Who can she turn to for help?
Aubrey’s friend Bill Bogle, a soldier overseas, has continued to write to her. Edie feels he could be romantically interested in her, or Teddy Macmillan, dashingly handsome and fun to be with, but considered a social outcast.
Edie’s own Father has secrets, and in a twist of events, these secrets are exposed.
I found this story very interesting. The way the story unfolds and the suspense of exactly what will become of Edie keeps you engaged. The characters each have a role to play in making this story relatable and memorable.
The book challenged me to think about the social issues of that time. How difficult it was for single and married women to have a career and the expectations and limitations placed on them by male family members.
Also about the loss of life during the war and the families suffering while their husband, sons or brothers are overseas. The letters from the trenches from Bill and Aubrey add another aspect, as do the views and treatment of conscientious objectors. There are wealthy factory owners exploiting workers and benefiting from the war, political unrest, and a plan for conscription. So much history I hadn’t thought about.
A great read. I thoroughly recommend the book, for both the romance and the history.
Thank you to Beauty and Lace and Pantera Press for the opportunity to read this excellent book.
A selection of our Beauty and Lace Club members are reading Snapshots From Home by Sasha Wasley. You can read their comments below, or add your own review.
I love to read, any book on any topic. I now love ebooks as they are easier to store, I was running out of bookshelves! My other interests are family, gardening and our beautiful King Charles spaniel dog who is my reading companion.
Thank you Beauty and Lace for the opportunity to read Snapshots from Home by Sasha Wasley.
I absolutely loved this Aussie read!!
Set in 1917,Edie is a young lady teaching to get away from her overbearing father.
This story has it all, drama, romance, heartbreak through wartime.
I couldn’t put it down as it was written so well!!
Also there is a huge twist that I didn’t see coming!!
Highly recommend ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Snapshots from Home is the latest novel from WA based author Sacha Wasley. This novel is set in 1917, the Great War is still raging with the loss of so many young Australian lives. The main character, Edie, is struggling with the death of her brother at the front, her father is very strict, and her mother died when she was young. The story opens as Edie leaves her hometown of Guildford to travel by train to York to start a new job as a teacher at Miss Raisin’s School for Girls. Edie soon settles into her new life, enjoying the freedoms, although the shadow of the loss of her brother still dominates.
As a child Edie has learnt photography and her late brother, Aubrey, had plans to send her to London to pursue a career in photography (at a time when most women didn’t have a career of any type let alone as a photographer). Since his death Edie hasn’t been able to use a camera, its just too painful. After some encouragement Edie is persuaded to take part in the Snapshots from Home program which send photos of family and home to the troops at war. Through this program Edie learns so much, she meets many interesting people including the Macmillans. Kitty the daughter is a pupil at the school, her unconventional mother and Kitty’s brother Teddy, a conscientious objector. Kitty becomes Edie’s constant companion and assistant as they travel around the town to take the photographs requested. Edie’s path has many stumbling blocks, as she tries to move forward to a life she wants, not what her father wants for her.
I had never heard of the snapshots from home program and was fascinated, it must have been fantastic for the troops to receive the photos on the front line and would have been a great boost to morale. Its clear that the author has researched this period and the programs well and as always with Sacha’s books the beautiful WA countryside is featured.
I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. Thank you to Beauty & Lace Book Club and Pantera Press for the opportunity to read it.
Snapshots From Home by Sasha Wasley was a fantastic read from beginning to end.
Set in Western Australia, three years into World War 1, Edie is mourning the loss of her brother who gave his life fighting the cause. We meet Edie when she has accepted a teaching post at Miss Raison’s School for Girls in the small town of York, both as a distraction from her grief and a means to escape the tyranny of her hard-to-live-with father. Once there she is reluctantly persuaded to volunteer in a comfort scheme and morale booster for the troops, taking and sending them photos of home and those near and dear to them. This proved to be a life changing decision for Edie which led her to find lost family and her soul mate.
A detailed storyline with rich characters, family secrets, class differences, friendships and a simmering love story, this one has the lot.
Thank you Beauty and Lace and Pantera Press for the opportunity to read and review Snapshots from Home which I highly recommend. Definitely won’t be my last Sasha Wasley book.
What a wonderful read! The book is set during the period of WWI. Edie and her brother Aubrey Stark live with their father Frederick in Guildford, WA. Fredrick is a cruel miserly, angry man and Edie is eager to escape the household. Aubrey has enlisted but sadly is killed in action leaving poor Edie alone and at home with her father until he finally allows her to become a teacher. At last Edie can escape and is soon hired at the York’s Girls School.
Edie and Aubrey loved photography and Edie is soon convinced to become part of the ‘Snapshots from Home Program’ while she is out of her fathers strict supervision. Edie loves teaching and loves being able to help the war effort by taking requests from serviceman, through the program, for a snapshot of their family or home. Edie meets Teddy Macmillan a conscientious objector to the war and the owner of Macmillans Portrait Gallery while in York and his sister Kitty becomes Edie’s assistant. There are debates and arguments about Teddy’s choice but it opens Edie’s eyes to a world, she as a women has not been privy to. Edie begins to see and think of life like she has never done before. Then there are family secrets that change everything.
There is so much to love about this book, the characters, life during WWI, the politics of the time, the treatment of women and the unfair work practices that existed. I can only imagine the amount of research the author undertook to bring all the facets together to make a truly engaging historical fiction read. A definite 5/5
Snapshots from Home by Sasha Wasley is inspired by true stories from the Australian homefront during the Great War in 1917.
Three years into the Great War Edie who is mourning the loss of her beloved brother on the front. Edie takes up a teaching post in the small Australian town of York. Edie’s brother Aubrey had taught Edie how to take photos but she has lost this passion since his passing. After her friends found out she loved photography and would have loved to move to London to pursue her interest they persuade her to join the League scheme to send photos of home to the troops overseas. She does this whilst teaching at Miss Raison’s School for Girls.
Whilst she is away teaching her father who treats her terribly is plotting her marriage to a gentleman in her hometown. She is expected to go home each holiday break and also send all her pay to him.
In York through her work for the League Edie meets the handsome Teddy Macmillan who she knows her father would not approve of but he helps her by taking her to take her snapshots at places that are too far away to walk to along with his sister Kitty as she is a student of Edie’s.
Unfortunately her father is not happy with Edie being in York and tells her she must leave her teaching post and return home. This decision will change Edie’s life forever, as she starts to reveal secrets and lies that she never knew existed. What path will this take for Edie and what will she discover?
Snapshots from home is truly a lovely read which gives you an insight into the warm times in reference to much needed family connections between the men /women fighting in the Great War and those at home continuing to support them and their own lives. Edie, who has lost a brother in the war and has a father who doesn’t approve much of what she does, becomes a teacher and being good with a camera begins to provide family photos to soldiers at their request, through the League. While doing this, she communicates by letter with a friend of her brother who is still fighting. A friendship develops and so does Edie’s secrets from her father.
A story of surprise, determination, friendship and love. Well written.
I have been a huge fan of Sasha’s books since inception, I just know if Sasha’s written it, I will love it.
I immediately gravitate to Sasha’s books on the bookstore shelves, I don’t even turn the book over to read the blurb, and ‘Snapshots from Home’ has well and truly delivered this time in spades. I cannot recall of any books I’ve read recently where I’ve used a dictionary more throughout, than this story, I can honestly say my vocabulary has increased somewhat substantially since starting this story.
This tale had me reflecting on the inequality’s these women faced not only in their working careers but also in their home lives. I absolutely loved Edie and Teddy’s robust debates, and Teddy’s adorably smart and intelligent little sister Kitty. I was brought to tears a couple of times reading Sasha’s extremely well researched book, imaging the soldiers seeing the photos from home of their loved ones, especially those lucky enough to have had Edie take the photos with her remarkable eye for catching the light just right and then with Edie going that extra mile with her exceptional artistic flair. Then again, when Teddy, Edie and Kitty were in the sulky, and encountered a young man on horseback cantering past them at break-neck speed.
I also really enjoyed reading about historic York Western Australia’s oldest inland town, which I visited just recently, and I took a stroll across the Swing Bridge, and, yes, it does actually swing.
Thank you, so much Beauty and Lace and Pantera Press Australia for allowing me to be totally immersed in Edie and Teddy’s world, through the re-telling of this fascinating historical Aussie wartime pursuit to bring a little piece of home into the lives of our soldiers on the other side of the world.
Thank you, Beauty & Lace, for allowing me to read & review ‘Snapshots from Home by Sasha Wasley’.
Set during the Great War, Edie tries to find a pathway forward for herself after losing her biggest supporter and beloved brother in Gallipoli warfare. Her domineering father wants to control every aspect and thought of her life. Escape to teachers’ college, and a resultant position allows Edie to breathe on her own.
Edie picks up her camera for the first time since losing her brother and takes ‘Snapshots from Home’ for the brave boys fighting in the front. In doing so, Edie begins to realize that there are many complex issues and injustices occurring outside of her cocooned, cautious life. Edie realizes that sometimes breaking the rules gives you and others the best chance to live a better life and attain your dreams.
This was an enjoyable read about finding your own voice and challenging the pre-determined ideas of other people. Thank you ‘Beauty & Lace Bookclub’ for the opportunity to read ‘Snapshots from Home by Sasha Wasley’.
Snapshots from home is a story of immigration, war, new beginnings.
I struggled a bit at the start but it became a beautiful story. This was my first Sasha wasley novel and won’t be the last
Thankyou to Beauty and Lace, Panterra Press and Sasha Wasley for the opportunity to read and review this beautiful novel.