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New York Times best-selling author Hazel Gaynor has joined with Heather Webb to create this unforgettably romantic novel of the Great War.
August 1914. England is at war. As Evie Elliott watches her brother, Will, and his best friend, Thomas Harding, depart for the front, she believes – as everyone does – that it will be over by Christmas, when the trio plan to celebrate the holiday among the romantic cafés of Paris.
But as history tells us, it all happened so differently….
Evie and Thomas experience a very different war. Frustrated by life as a privileged young lady, Evie longs to play a greater part in the conflict – but how? – and as Thomas struggles with the unimaginable realities of war, he also faces personal battles back home, where War Office regulations on press reporting cause trouble at his father’s newspaper business. Through their letters Evie and Thomas share their greatest hopes and fears – and grow ever fonder from afar. Can love flourish amid the horror of the First World War, or will fate intervene?
Christmas 1968. With failing health, Thomas returns to Paris – a cherished packet of letters in hand – determined to lay to rest the ghosts of his past. But one final letter is waiting for him…
FYI: My library has this listed as being by Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb. Made a difference when searching the catalog.
I finished this one up last night and liked it. It was a little heavier than I wanted for the month of December. I guess I should have known that.
I liked the format of the story getting told through letters. There were some parts i wish could have been told in more detail – like the end where Tom goes to Evie as she fights her illness. The culmination would have been more rewarding I think.
It was easy enough to piece together the ambiguities. I’m glad Will had the chance to live on through Delphine & Will Harding.
I didn’t care much for Evie’s column. The concept was good but the writing didn’t seem good enough for a regular column. I preferred her letters.
I really liked the dual lifestyles throughout the book. Evie getting a glimpse of the realities of life on the Front against the regular life back at home where Christmas dinners were still planned and dancing in fountains was still possible. It makes me want to read All Quiet on the Western Front.
Alice was another character I would like to have delved into more. Spunky and vivacious in every word.
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