Arthur Pettinger is in his nineties and can’t remember too much about his daily life, but the one person he does remember is Maryse, the beautiful young woman he met and fell in love with in France in 1944 when he was sent there as a young British soldier.

This timeslip moves from the present day soon after Arthur’s granddaughter, Maddy and her eleven-year-old daughter, Esther move into his home to look after him back to 1944 when Arthur lands in Occupied France. Maddy is single and determined to stay that way having suffered a difficult break-up with Joe, the one that got away .

When Maddy and Esther discover how Arthur frets at night looking for someone and worrying that he had let them down, Esther decides to help him find whoever it is and puts a video about Arthur and the woman he’s looking for onto YouTube. The video goes viral and soon Maddy realises that she needs to help put Arthur’s mind at rest and track down the woman he loved and lost, once and for all. The best-placed person to help her is Joe and together they do their best to track down the woman from Arthur’s past.

This sensitively written story depicts the gentle relationship between Arthur and his great-granddaughter beautifully. Told from Arthur’s point of view and also Maddy’s this thought-provoking and heart-wrenching story kept me up late at night desperately wanting to discover what happened between Arthur and Maryse. I have to admit that I read the last part of this book with tears blurring the words. It made me wonder how many others experienced the same love and enforced separation that Arthur and his beloved Maryse endured during those war years and the very many secrets that others must have been kept.

The Forgotten Life of Arthur Pettinger is out now (4th March). Thanks to Aria and NetGalley for an ARC copy in exchange for an honest review.