In Memoriam is a debut novel by Alice Winn, a gorgeous love story that takes place on and off the battlefields of WWI. The novel’s protagonists are Henry Gaunt and Sidney Ellwood, two young men who find themselves thrust into war before their final school year has ended. At Preshute—a British boarding school similar to Eton—Gaunt and Ellwood spend their days reading poetry, boxing, and gallivanting around with their classmates, relishing the relative independence that allows their companionship to blossom into a romance. But when the war with Germany gains momentum, the boys feel compelled to enlist even though neither are yet eighteen. The novel then follows Gaunt and Ellwood as they experience firsthand the atrocities at the Western Front, both together and apart, and as they become men irrevocably changed by the war. Against all odds, Gaunt and Ellwood’s love story unfolds, insisting on hope and poetry even in the face of incomprehensible loss.

I lost myself in this novel, completely. Gaunt and Ellwood are two characters unlike any I’ve ever read—charming and fierce yet heartbreakingly fragile—and for the entirety of the book I was just aching for them to escape unscathed and find happiness together. This, along with Winn’s fast-paced, deliciously wordy writing, kept me turning the pages late into the night, something I didn’t expect from a book about WWI. Winn approaches the war aspect of the book with unflinching honesty; she scatters “Honour Roll” lists of the dead and wounded throughout the book as a constant reminder of how many young men—many under the age of twenty—were killed during the war, and fills the battlefield scenes with gruesome details. And yet, the overarching mood is optimistic. Gaunt and Ellwood’s love story, along with the camaraderie among the soldiers and classmates, fills the often devastating book with warmth. In Memoriam is breathtaking, heart-wrenching, and impossible to put down—I absolutely loved it.

I’d recommend this book to…

• Anyone looking for a passionate wartime romance… it’s similar in theme to The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
• Anyone who loves poetic writing that’s both playful and infused with gravity… it’s similar in style to The Whalebone Theatre by Joanna Quinn
• Anyone craving something that leaves you feeling introspective and exhilarated… it’s similar in tone to Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell