A good book, an interesting subject, a strong tale. I enjoyed this book but did find something lacking.

I loved that it is based on real events and it is very emotional, it was easy to read and the characters are good but at times in just went on and on which lost my interest and concentration. But then it would pick up again.

It is a story of survival, war, loss, courage and trying to make life better after such terrify and heart-breaking events.

Ten or more years ago we used to watch Boardwalk Empire which was set in Atlantic City in the 1920s. There was a character in it who had been terribly disfigured during WWI and wore a face mask which covered the disfigured side of his face but which was painted to look like his real face. I had no idea at the time that this was a thing and that there was a whole government department (in the U.K. anyway) devoted to the creation of these masks, the "Masks for Facial Disfigurement Department", which became known as the "Tin Nose Shop".

The Tin Nose Shop is a fictionalized account of Sam, an artist who was plucked from certain death by firing squad and deployed to a castle in Northern Ireland to create masks for men who suffered facial disfigurement in the war and for whom surgeons had done as much as possible. Using photographs of the men from "before", the masks were created using paper-thin copper and painted to capture the men's features. Sam has issues of his own hence the reason he was in front of the firing squad and the interesting thing is that the firing squad consisted of men from the same side on which he had been fighting. I didn't realize that the British army sometimes executed its own men. In scattered chapters we also follow Katie, widow of Sam's best friend Ned, and Lily, a survivor of the sinking of the Lusitania who has taken up residence on a farm near the castle where Sam is stationed. They all have their own intriguing back stories.

A truly extraordinary story! I really dislike being one of the first to review a new book but to me this was an excellent story that I found easy to read as well as extremely fascinating. Every time I took a break I could hardly wait to get back to the story. I have to admit there were places where the narrative droned on a bit but I stuck with it and feel like I learned a lot. I felt empathy for the characters and enjoyed the descriptions of the different settings. A "stirring and emotional tale" indeed.

My appreciation to Legend Press via Netgalley for the opportunity to read an ARC of this novel. All opinions expressed are my own.
Publication Date: July 1, 2022

I recently discovered this story and this is an excellent retelling of it. I loved how the author developed the story and the characters.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

I received this from Netgalley.com.

"Sam Burke is tasked with creating intricate masks to hide the mutilated faces of his fellow soldiers from the Front."

An interesting piece of war history. I wanted to love this tale but I was not captivated by the characters.

2.25☆

A remarkable story

Imagine having to go into war, have your face destroyed and then return home only to be outcast. Someone then gets the idea to make masks so soldiers can go outside again without being stared at. Good if thats what the soldier wants but theres discussion here that it was so the government could hide the horrors of what they had led their people to do. Sounds familiar?

Still, the main sttory was compelling = one man's vision to help those whose faces had been destroyed by war. makes you question your own reaction to facial disfigurement.

I can't believe this is a true story. Amazing.

As an educator, I love learning and having read so many historical fiction novels from this time period, I didn't think I could learn something new, just enjoy a story with a slightly different plot and different characters, BUT The Tin Nose Shop was something completely new. I had no idea that something like this existed and so this novel was actually novel!

The Tin Nose shop tells of Sam, an artist who has lost his best friend in war and is depressed. After a failed suicide attempt he is sent to a castle to make facial masks for soldiers who have been disfigured in the war. He is very reluctant in the beginning but warms up to Oscar the man in charge and starts to build a mask for a guy named Lansdale. After a bit, he really begins to understand how important his work truly is. I found the beginning of the story a bit slow and struggled to keep going, but it picks up pace about halfway through. I had never really heard of this part of the war so it was interesting to learn about the Masks for Facial Disfigurement Department.

This is a fascinating part of our history and the author handles a sensitive topic with respect, weaving it into an intriguing story which I found deeply touching. Well written, well researched and very interesting,

Having previously learned about early attempts to help disfigured soldiers reenter “normal” society, I was greatly intrigued by this novel. There are a lot of dynamics packed into this quick, compelling read…and it packs a punch. War, trauma, friendship, honor, hope, love…you’ll find it all here.

This book captivated my senses. The writer really made me feel as though I were there in the castle with Sam and the soldiers. I'll admit it wasn't quite the ending I saw coming. But I admired how all lose ends were tied.

Wow this was such a thrilling and fun ride. I loved every second of it. Addicted to the writing style as well. Soo sooo good

5 stars

I whizzed through this book, I couldn't put it down. Well written with a compelling storyline and well developed characters that I came to love. This was such an interesting read for me as I had family that survived both wars and have been told their stories throughout my life by members of my family and the survivors when possible so I had heard about these masks, but I had never considered the emotional aspect of it before. It was such an emotive read as I considered how these men felt after surviving the horrrors of war and having to cover themselves up, at the same time as dealing with the knowledge that many of their friends and comrades who didn't make it would have given anything to be alive to put the mask on. As well as dealing with feelings of having to wear a mask to protect society from dealing with the horrors of war- the horrors that they have witnessed and lived through - so for them it must have been a whirlwind of emotions. But also I considered the other characters that weren't the surviviprs of war but were the loved ones of survivors or just members of the public encountering them on the street and It made me think about how hard it must have been for the families/significant others of the soldiers to see them having to put a mask on, where the face wasn't quite theirs anymore but they had to wear to make society feel better, because the officials who had forced these men to go to war in the first place didn't want the evidence of that war on show for everyone to see because if it was they wouldn't be able to convince themselves that it was justified.
It was such a thought provoking read on so many levels. I loved it and I cannot wait to see what the author writes next or to get my hands on a physical copy of this book.

3.5 stars

I was a tad emotional by the end of this book.
I'd warmed to some of the characters so much.
For me, it felt like separate stories that I always knew where connected, until they did connect.
The story of the survivor, the one that went to war, the one left behind.
At times, the tin nose shop became very much secondary to the characters themselves, though it was interesting to see how this started.
A very enjoyable read.

“How do you expect me to save a man’s life just by making him a mask to wear?”

Author Don Snyder takes us inside the horrors of WW1 and shows us a corps of artists who brought hope to soldiers disfigured in the trenches.

Wounded tommies (British soldiers) facetiously named it “The Tin Noses Shop”, but it was otherwise known by the War Office as the Masks for Facial Disfigurement Department. It represented a desperate improvisation as a result of the Great War. Trench warfare in WW1 produced so many disfigured soldiers because these young men failed to understand the power of the machine gun. Soldiers would pop their heads over a trench and think they could move quickly enough to dodge a bullet. As a result, more than 60,000 British soldiers had their faces mutilated.

Sam Burke is lucky. He’s pulled from death by firing squad in France and brought to a remote castle in Newcastle, Northern Ireland. Here he works in The Tin Nose Shop using his skills as an artist to create intricate masks to hide his fellow soldiers’ mutilated faces. Reconstructive facial surgery as we know it, was still in its infancy and the British government was just beginning to explore reconstructive viability.

Snyder tells that “being left so horribly disfigured meant that after surviving the horrors of war, they now faced the most difficult journey of all … the journey home to their loved ones.” I read about Lansdale and other soldiers who suffered and had tried their best to rise above the haunting experiences of war, yet were having difficulty carrying on with “a measure of dignity they were entitled to.” Despite the mask creation being a long and tedious process, I noted that it gave patients the possibility of getting back their former self-respect, self-assurance, and self-reliance.

The author really gave me something to think about when I read the following lines:

“He will be building Lansdale’s mask for the people who are in power, the people who made this war so that when it is over, the real loss, the real horror, will be hidden away so these people can be cleansed of any guilt.”

“He must do whatever he can to encourage Lansdale never to believe that the mask he will hide behind is meant to hide him as well.”

Before I started reading, I’ll admit that my ignorance prevented me from seeing only one possibility: I thought of the masks being made so that the soldiers could hide behind them. After finishing the book, I’ve considered the idea that the masks were also to prevent society from witnessing the horrors of war.

I really struggled with the first third of this book. I almost didn’t finish it. I’m glad I persevered with the feeling like I’d been thrown in the deep end of the pool with no floaties because I would not have known about this revolutionary time in the growth of the facial reconstructive surgery industry. Yes, it sounds grim and yes, parts of the story were queasy, but, come on, you’ve had these questions too, right? How did they do it? How did they cope? How long did it take? Did they make the mask age with the soldier? Snyder answers them. Despite being a tough read, viscerally and in pacing, it answered my questions.

I was gifted this advance copy by Don J Snyder, Legend Press, and NetGalley and was under no obligation to provide a review.