The Crimson Portrait:
A Novel

by Jody Shields

 

 

With what a deep devotedness of woe
I wept thy absence - o'er and o'er again
Thinking of thee, still thee, till thought grew pain,
And memory, like a drop that, night and day,
Falls cold and ceaseless, wore my heart away!
                                                 ~Thomas Moore

Julian is one of the patients who have been brought to the hospital. Half of his face was destroyed as a result of shrapnel. Catherine finds that he reminds her very much of her late husband. She befriends him and the two grow close. She learns that the Doctors are working on a mask that will help Julian live a normal life. Unknown to Julian, Catherine is plotting with the Doctors to help reconstruct his face to resemble her deceased husband’s.

I thought when love for you died, I should die.
It's dead. Alone, most strangely, I live on.
                                                    ~Rupert Brooke