A Sense of Things Beyond by Renée Belliveau

A Sense of Things Beyond by Renée Belliveau is a compelling and well-researched historical fiction novel set in the wake of World War I.

Protagonists Fredrick and Rose both had very different experiences during World War I. While working on his PhD in Germany, Frederick was declared an enemy alien. He spent the war in an internment camp with various other men of different nationalities, living in unheated horse stables, under guard. Rose was a Nursing Sister or Bluebird who worked in field hospitals near the front lines of France, caring for the wounded coming from the trenches. After the war, both eventually make their way to Nova Scotia to cope and mentally heal from their experiences and adapt to life outside of war. Having met pre-war at their siblings’ wedding, his brother and her sister, both are adjusting to who they now are, post-war. They help one another make sense of their past while developing a future.

Shortlisted for the Dartmouth Book Award for Fiction and the Thomas Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award, Renée Belliveau explores the effects of war on not just the soldiers, but the people left behind at home, the medical personnel, and the people in the internment camps in both Germany and Canada, and how they are remembered. She examines the incredible, yet exhausting work that the Nursing Sisters performed. While living under horrific, unbelievable conditions, they treated the battle injuries and ailments caused by being in the trenches, like trench foot, along with infections and illnesses.

The narrative is told from the alternating points of view of Frederick and Rose, how they are coping and adapting in their present time, with memories, reflections, and recollections of their time spent overseas. I found the story very thought- provoking and sometimes disturbing, having elements that I don’t think I will soon forget. A Sense of Things Beyond asks the big questions: what do we want to remember about the war, what is worth remembering, who do we remember, how do we remember, and lastly, what do we forget or allow to disappear?

“I hope this story adds, in some small way, to the ongoing conversation about whose histories we preserve and whose we allow to fade. If the past is a story we tell ourselves, it is only by probing how it was shaped that we can begin to understand the world we’ve inherited.”
– A Sense of Things Beyond Author’s Note- Renée Belliveau

Renée Belliveau is the author of the novels A Sense of Things Beyond and The Sound of Fire, which was named a Quill & Quire book of the year and shortlisted for the Relit Novel Award, as well as the memoir Les étoiles à l’aube. She draws inspiration from her work as an archivist, where she spends her days surrounded by records of the past. A proud acadienne from New Brunswick, she currently lives in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, with her husband.

Publisher: Vagrant Press (September 9, 2025)
Paperback 8″ x 6″ | 264 pages
ISBN: 9781774714522

Sue Slade

Sue Slade has a Bachelor of Child Study from Mount St. Vincent University in Halifax. After working with children and adults with special needs, she now has her midlife dream job of working with books. Sue manages an independent, locally owned bookstore, Dartmouth Book Exchange. Through her charismatic sharing centred around books and community, Sue has created an engaging cornerstone for authors, customers, and book lovers of all ages. Sue is an avid reader and her reviews cross over many genres.

Sue Slade

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