The Last Photograph

by Emma Chapman

He walks into the living room and June is dead. He centres her, checking the light. Focusing, he clicks the shutter. He'll ask himself later, if he knew. It's easy to say that he had acted without thinking, out of instinct. Rook Henderson is an award-winning photographer, still carrying the hidden scars of war. Now, suddenly, he is also a widower. Leaving his son Ralph to pick up the pieces, Rook flies to Vietnam for the first time in fifty years, escaping to the landscape of a place he once knew so well. But when Ralph follows him out there, seeking answers from the father he barely knows, Rook is forced to unwind his his childhood in Yorkshire, his life in London in the 1960s and his marriage to the unforgettable June - and to ask himself what price he has paid for a life behind the lens . . . Gripping, evocative and unforgettable, The Last Photograph is a story of a life shaped by trauma and love - and the secrets that make us who we are.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Contemporary, British Literature

336 pages, Paperback

First published July 28, 2016

About the author

Emma Chapman was born in 1985 and grew up in Manchester. She studied English Literature at Edinburgh University, followed by a Masters in Creative Writing at Royal Holloway, University of London. After university, she travelled in Scandinavia, and she currently lives in Perth, Western Australia. How To Be A Good Wife is Emma's first novel.

Reviews

[Helen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book - sparse writing, poignant, sad. I didn't like Rook, the main character, but felt his sadness and how he had not made the most of his life with June. Despite the accolades he had received through his photography, he was not happy. I enjoyed the story in Vietnamn and felt the author really brought the various characters there to life, and the way the author switched between different times in the story worked well.

[Bev · Rating 2 out of 5]

Emma Chapman’s second novel, The Last Photograph tells the back story of Rook Henderson - an award winning photographer who carries Vietnam and the agony of all that living life behind the lens with him. Always.

Now he has to add dealing with his wife June’s death to his burden. His son Ralph looks to him for comfort and attention.

Beautifully written, there are nuggets on almost every page.

Read my full review here.

[Dolf Patijn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. I'm a photographer myself so that gave it an extra dimension. The depiction of the war in Vietnam is a bit cliche but that is probably hard to avoid. I've seen a lot of films about the subject and read several accounts so that part wasn't new to me. The way Emma shows Rook's internal struggles is well done. Emma Chapman has a lovely style of writing and I found the book hard to put down. Highly recommended.

[Louise Mullins · Rating 4 out of 5]

The journey of a photojournalist during the Vietnam war. This title shows emotional insight and lightly explores the effect of trauma and loss on a man, how the deaths of a childhood friend, and a fellow journalist in Nam affected him with a low-level of PTSD. His wife's recent death bringing his past paint back to haunt him. And the strained relationship he shared with his son due to the amount of time he spent away from home working. I enjoyed the descriptive style, which was less literary this time, but would have liked a bit more narrative depth. Overall a good book that forces you to reflect on and consider the way history shapes us.

[Rita Chapman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Something a little different - a photographer's view of the world, from his days in Vietnam as a war photographer to the death of his wife.

[Tien · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really wasn’t sure if I wanted to read this book as it just sounds so sad!

"He walks into the living room and June is dead."

It has such a beautiful cover though that I decided to get started and see whether I can stomach the sadness. No regrets! I have truly enjoyed this story of healing.

Rook Henderson suddenly found himself un-tethered. His wife has died and he was lost. So he left everything behind and went to Vietnam. His first visit after his work as a photo journalist during the Vietnam War. His son, Ralph, followed him there and together, Rook delved into his past and finally found all he needed to heal.

Each chapter of The Last Photograph has 2 parts, present and past though there was more of the past. We followed Rook in reliving his experiences which led him to be who he is –a man who hid behind his camera. This mode of telling was a little confusing at first as the past / Rook’s secret history is revealed a little at a time and the reader needed a firm grip of Rook’s timeline. It’s heart breaking that it needed a sad event to force you to actually heal and that it took so long! However, Rook’s search for answers ends with a note of hope. I do wonder, though, about June. I would really like to know her perspective; how she hung in there for so long!

The Last Photograph is evocative and poignant. The contrast of the two worlds were staggering and photographically vivid. A novel well worth reading but make sure you have time for reflection.

Many thanks to Pan MacMillan Australia; I received a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Gazala · Rating 3 out of 5]

this book talks about Rook's life. He is a photographer who has an opportunity to cover the Vietnamese war, and how everything changes after. When his wife dies, he immediately goes back to Vietnam, as it is that place that changes his entire being.
The book sways between the life of the older Rook and their younger days. It shows the war from the perspective of the ones covering it.
The writing is simple and easy to attune oneself to. The gory details of the war are minimal , and it shows how different people bond over the calamity that brings them together.
Leaving his wife in London , Rook is changed by the war, but when he goes back - a chord is missing as he is changed for good, a change that his family isn't able to accept completely.
It is a very significant insight on life , as most of us are changed by various experiences we go through, but somehow the people around us cannot accept us in our changed forms.. The description was a little slow at certain points, but it definitely has some beautiful highs that we can closely relate to. The climax is almost predictable , but life comes a full circle for Rook.
The book shows a side of ourselves that we often shy away from. Some of us pick ourselves and our work over family , but we cannot accept it and consider it a taboo..the book gives us a beautiful insight on this particular aspect.
Unfortunately it doesn't have a lot of quotes that i could remember..
Overall - a decent read.

[Deborah (debbishdotcom) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book opens with the death of June, Rook's wife. And he very literally jumps a plane and leaves. But not before emailing his son to let him know his mother's dead.

It could seem callous, but it doesn't. Rook's obviously in shock and mourning the loss of his wife, but his first thought it is to return to the place of his first heartbreak.

The book flashes back and forward in time - mostly from the time Rook gets his big break working for the Sunday Times in Vietnam. It's 1963 and he and June haven't had the success they'd hoped for since moving to London. He doesn't have any idea what he's in for but jumps at the chance nonetheless.

Rook spends five years in Vietnam and we travel to and fro with him. We know something happens which sees him leave Vietnam for good and Chapman paces this beautifully so we're kept waiting and wondering.

I adored this book, which came as a surprise as it's not my usual fare. I read it in a sitting, desperate to know more about Rook's life and understand why he ran following the death of his wife and what it was he was seeking.

This is a wonderful novel of passion, loss and redemption and an enchanting read.

Read the full review on my site: http://www.debbish.com/books-literatu...

4.5 stars

[Arlene · Rating 4 out of 5]

A photographer's life at its best.

[Harm ten Napel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Without all the forced flashbacks and alternation between an old man’s looking back on life and the action of the past this is just a story of a young photographer being thrown into one of the many wars America has waged in foreign countries with obfuscated reasons and uncertain outcomes. Why the Vietnam war still has so much appeal over other conflicts in the same category gives reason to question. Perhaps it was the helicopters, going in gung ho at a hot LZ and getting out all disillusioned and maimed if not dead or left behind. This atmosphere at least is captured sufficiently here in writing, as so many Vietnam stories completing the Billy Joel songs in music and Oliver Stone on film. Since the perspective is from the relative detached standpoint of journalism it is able to maintain a certain neutrality even if the one sided view of embeddedness can hardly avoid the associated corruption. This becomes clear already on the first mission when a war crime is committed matter of factly. The photographer’s star rises inversely proportional to the documented atrocities. But maybe I have got it all wrong and it is just a love story, two young lovers from a backward town trying to make it in the big world, but at a cost as nobody is getting something for nothing. Rook being sent off to a dangerous place and June making concessions in the acting world. So Rook is being exploited for his toughness and June for her sweetness and what’s worse it is driving them apart. While the novel is well written and doesn’t lack suspense I find it a little timid, as if coming out of Creative Writing school imbues you with a set of skills to write a decent novel but in a polished way lacking the gut and gore you may expect especially from a war story. Where are the hookers? OK, there are some, but we don’t get to meet them. Maybe I’m spoiled by Karl Marlantes, but this is Vietnam light. Apocalypse nowhere. The last part of the book is dull domestic dread, instead of being happy at home with his loving wife and son, we are supposed to believe the photographer longs for the danger and excitement of war, maybe it works that way and you never really recover. In the final part of the book, as if this was The Curious Case of Benjamin Button we regress all the way back to 1947 where we need to go to learn how Rook became a photographer, being given a camera in the wake of a dreadful tragedy, then it ends with a bit of good news when in the present he learns there’s a grandchild on the way, then they take the last photograph for commemorating. Altogether a nice book with good atmospheric painting, as said a bit tame, but I will not judge the book for describing the arc of life to its ever dreadful end, it takes some courage to undertake it while still being so young. The picture of the author on the back, saying more than words alone.

[Mery · Rating 3 out of 5]

Abandoné este libro por buen tiempo porque se me empezó a hacer larguísimo. Sin embargo volví con el propósito de retomarlo con el mismo entusiasmo con el que lo empecé. El protagonista resulta ser un hombre que batalla con sus demonios del pasado, con una conciencia que no le permite ser feliz y disfrutar del presente y su familia. Para mí fue atractivo el tema de la guerra de Vietnam y por supuesto, una carrera tan agridulce como el de los fotoperiodistas, sin embargo los datos históricos me parecieron bastante pobres y parcializados. Con todo y los detalles que no disfruté, es cierto que siempre viene bien un libro basado en hechos reales y de un momento tan importante como la guerra de Vietnam.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hmm. Listened on audio. I enjoyed listening to the book but I didn’t really feel I could identify with Rook. Although the author attempted to explain it I still felt uneasy with the fact that he took a picture of his dead wife before doing anything else when he found her. I loved the flashbacks to the Vietnam War, but there were unanswered questions here too. Maybe my attention wandered but an interesting listen none the less.

[Helen Eddon · Rating 5 out of 5]

When photographer, Rook Henderson's wife, June, dies suddenly, Rook feels compelled to return to Vietnam for the first time in 50 years. He uses his visit to reflect on his life - his childhood in a northern mining town, meeting June and moving to London to further their careers, his big opportunity to take photographs of the war in Vietnam where he witnesses terrible and truly shocking incidents that have haunted him all his life. This is a beautifully written novel, touching and thought provoking. Wonderful!

[Jane · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Quiet Englishman.

[Rêve · Rating 2 out of 5]

Got that from a subscription box. It was ok, I did not like it though. Not a bad reading, I just didn't "click" with the story. I rarely like contemporary fiction anyways.

[Miyako Watanabe · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was amazing, love it.
The way of describing how he felt by taking photos.... it's incredible.
It's soo well written.
A worth reading it.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beautifully written but no real plot and no real character development

[Margob99 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Assured, poignant, evocative. A well-told story, one that I thoroughly enjoyed reading.

[Faith Limo · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was certainly different to the books I normally read. Reading about the Vietnam War was definitely confronting and reading about it from the perspective of a photographer was even more insightful. Rook's experience in Vietnam was different from learning about a soldier's experience in it. As the reader, you look at Vietnam's war-stricken environment through the the lenses of his camera. It's a heart-wrenching and eye-opening read that will leave you pondering for more.

Plot wise, this book isn't the best. It's extremely honest, getting right down to the root of what happened in Vietnam, and it's effect on Rook and his family. It's one of those books that simply follow a person's life. Rook, a talented photographer, is sent abroad to Vietnam, away from his young beloved wife, June in Britain. There, he captures the reality of war and conflict whilst also making lifelong friends who are journalists and also fellow photographers. At the same time, we are reading from modern-day Rook and how he deals with the death of his wife. They are two different versions of the same person, one still young and unfazed by the ordeals of war and another who has to come to terms with its impacts on his marriage and family life.

The story follows Rook leaving to Vietnam and then coming to his wife, again and again. We see how June resorts to partying and some questionable friends to deal with her inability to gain an acting job and the absence of her working husband. At the same time, we see Rook begin to no longer recognise the women he chose to love and marry. As the story develops, the two no longer become suited to each other and the arrival of son, Ralph doesn't really do much to resolve this. They move to the country where Rook doesn't know how to handle a quiet life at home and June without the friend's she has surrounded herself with. It's saddening to read about a marriage slowly break down because of war but in all honesty, Rook went to Vietnam to make a comfortable living for his family and it was June's selfishness that contributed more to their marital tensions.

At the same time, we read about Rook and son, Ralph in modern day Vietnam spending some quality time together after June's death. These chapters were always relatively short in compared to the flashback ones. For me, these chapters didn't contribute much to the book as a whole. The focus was more on the war and Rook and June's marriage and that was what I was invested in. The other modern day chapter were like intermissions in between the real drama.

In summary: I found June annoying, I sympathised with Rook's situation and I was pretty impartial to son, Ralph. Additionally, reading about a photographer's experience in Vietnam during the war was fascinating. I definitely recommend this book to older readers not because of any inappropriateness but purely because the message would better suit a more mature audience.

[Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Last Photograph is the story of a marriage, the story of a career, the story of a war and a story that examines how hidden pasts can shape the future.

Rook Henderson flees to Vietnam when his wife of many years, June, dies suddenly. Vietnam is the place that has shaped most of Rook's life; the place where his career took off, the place where he formed solid friendships, but also the place where he experienced things that haunt him, It's fifty years since he last stepped off an aeroplane onto Vietnamese soil. The war was over a long time ago, but Rook is compelled to return.



The author has structured Rook's story so very well. We are with him in the present day, and are then transported back to the 1960s where we share his experiences as a newspaper photographer. Rook has always used his camera as a shield, and finds that he can distance his mind from the horrors that he witnesses when he watches through his lens. This also enables him to take extraordinary images that depict events that the US Government would prefer to hide.

The reader also follows Rook and June as they fall in love and marry. Their dreams take them away from the Yorkshire pit town of their childhood to the opportunities on the streets of London. Their relationship is complex and fraught, hindered by Rook's lengthy stretches abroad.

Sixty-three journalists were killed during the Vietnam War, and whilst Rook is purely fictional,
Emma Chapman has clearly been influenced by some of the correspondents who bravely captured the images of war to send back home. The sense of place is absolutely outstanding, the detailed descriptions of each location is wonderfully done and is testament to the huge amount of research that this talented author has obviously carried out.


The Last Photograph cleverly and elegantly interweaves Rook's present-day story and feelings with those from his past. It is written with tenderness and compassion and both Rook and June are perfectly crafted characters, none of their flaws are hidden, yet both of them are charismatic and I became very attached to them both.



This novel moved me, it has stayed in my head, I have thought about it endlessly. It's so very different to the author's first novel, but it's also so very very beautiful. She deals with very important issues with bravery and honesty and I am, once again, astounded by her writing

http://randomthingsthroughmyletterbox...

[Ck · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some stories need to be told. This is one of them. In “The Last Photograph,” Chapman unspools a narrative that unflinchingly examines the trauma of war, rippling across time and over multiple continents. Rook, the protagonist, returns to Vietnam for the first time in years, back to the place where his career as a photojournalist had led him deep into war. As soon as his feet touch the soil, the memories return. Chapman excels at interweaving his past and present with clarity and compassion. Soon Rook is joined by his son Ralph, whose surprise visit forces Rook to face the fact of his wife’s recent – and sudden – passing. Morally and emotionally complex, Rook must choose who he is, and deal with the consequences of who he has been.

Within literature, there are rich personal accounts of the impact of the war such as Thanha Lai’s “Inside Out & Back Again.” Chapman’s novel provides a fictional account of the impact of the war on foreigners – not only Rook, who was present during the war, but also his wife and son whom he left in England.

In the USA, the generation that fought in the Vietnam war continues to grapple with its impact, and some veterans have been reduced to homelessness. Chapman's story, while focusing on photojournalists and not veterans, provides a context for their trauma. Set from the perspective of an English man, “The Last Photograph” also brings to light the complexities of the political situation in Vietnam that exacerbated the war and its severity. These stories need to be told, all of them. Chapman bravely forges the trail with a novel taut with emotional suspense and written in crisp, clean English.

[Tiah]

– He'll ask himself later, if he knew. Now, it's easier for him to think that he is acting without thinking, out of instinct. –

– Your work is art...And we've been lucky to have you. But times have changed. We can get a freelance shot for a tenth of one of your images...What could he say? I'll take less too. Just let me keep on working... –

– I needed to write it. It was my way of dealing with what happened, of saying sorry. –

– It's not as simple as that. –

– Each day, as Ralph grew older, he expected things to improve, to stop feeling like he was outside his life, rather than living it. –

[Lesley Shears · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the second book I've read recently that relates to the Vietnam War and a damaged father/son relationship. (the other was Matthew Quick's The Reason You're Alive). I've enjoyed them both very much.

Emma Chapman has based her book on the real life exploits of the hardy band of journalists and photographers who documented the war and brought it home. Their news wasn't sanitised - they put themselves in danger to get the stories; more than 60 journalists were killed during the conflict.

Emma has a gift for description and dialogue as her protaganist finally faces his demons and makes peace with his son.

[BiblioPhil · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm Pleased that Emma Chapman has not stayed in the safe zone of "grip-lit" after her successful debut. Taking as a starting point the autobiographies of the likes of a Tim Page and Don Mccullin, she combines convincing representation of Vietnam photographers under fire with showing the domestic pressures such a way of life brought. The cover troubles me, having no bearing on the story: does it speak of an uncertainty about who the book's readership will be?.Disclaimer: I met her in Ilkley bookshop and she's very nice!

[Ann Tonks · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were elements of this novel about a photojournalist from the Vietnam war that were strong and vibrant - the flight after his wife's death; the arrival of the son; the move to London. And then there were other parts that weren't as effective or emotive - the childhood trauma, the war itself, the post-war impact. But overall, the exploration of a marriage that held together regardless of the increasing distance between the partners was an interesting one.

[Ria · Rating 3 out of 5]

This tale revolves around Rook, a photojournalist who only ever feels alive when he views the world thru' his camera and his career covering the Vietnam war. I felt Chapman missed the mark a little on this one, her characters weren't connecting with me, and at times it felt more like a well researched text rather than a believable, emotive novel...

[Lizzi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another great novel from Emma Chapman. Review here: https://theselittlewords.com/2016/08/...

[Jan Toy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book

[Sheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

An enjoyable read - A photographer covering the Vietnam War and the stress his work puts on his marriage, family and friendships. The Vietnam from another perspective.

[Savannah Epskamp · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lovely book. Sad but also a feel good book in many ways. Love this author ❤