Reviewed by Asher Syed for Readers' Favorite

Laurence Hutson’s Shattered Faces is set during the First World War, when American sculptor Anna Ladd leaves Boston for Europe after learning that soldiers with severe facial injuries are hiding themselves from families and society. In London, she studies a new process that uses sculpture, copper, and painted prosthetic masks to recreate damaged faces from prewar photographs. Anna then travels to Paris and opens the Studio for Portrait Masks beside the American Hospital, where wounded soldiers arrive from the trenches with injuries caused by bullets, grenades, shell blasts, and fire. As bombardments strike the city and the hospitals overflow with casualties, Anna and her team race to complete masks that will help soldiers return to public life with less fear of recognition and rejection. While military pressure increases across France, Anna is linked to the lives of the soldiers entering the Studio, where every completed mask offers the possibility of a different future.

Laurence Hutson’s Shattered Faces is masterful in its portrayal of the Great War. Hutson leans deeply into wartime culture and excellent period details, whether it's blackout wardens patrolling Paris streets during Zeppelin alarms, or women volunteering beside ambulance convoys as suffrage spreads across Britain and France. Anna stands out as a wonderful protagonist through her devotion to wounded veterans. I love Mary Louise Brent, who abandons the comforts of America to document wounded soldiers photographically. Her late-night conversations with Anna also reshape the emotional atmosphere inside the Studio. Hutson's portrayal of Paris feels authentic, with overcrowded Metro tunnels during bombardments, and candlelit gatherings inside an apartment filled with paintings and writers. Toul is equally textured and atmospheric in the author's skilled hands, taking readers through snow-covered church processions, passing refugee camps while distant artillery echoes across the countryside. With writing that practically sings, readers who adore wartime fiction and courageous women serving near combat zones will love this. Very highly recommended.