In Memoriam: A novel
GMA BUZZ PICK • INTERNATIONAL BEST SELLER AND AWARD WINNER • A haunting, virtuosic debut novel about two young men who fall in love during World War I • “Will live in your mind long after you’ve closed the final pages.” —Maggie O’Farrell, best-selling author of Hamnet and The Marriage Portrait
A Best Book of the Year: The New Yorker, The Washington Post, NPR
“In Memoriam is the story of a great tragedy, but it is also a moving portrait of young love.”—The New York Times
It’s 1914, and World War I is ceaselessly churning through thousands of young men on both sides of the fight. The violence of the front feels far away to Henry Gaunt, Sidney Ellwood and the rest of their classmates, safely ensconced in their idyllic boarding school in the English countryside. News of the heroic deaths of their friends only makes the war more exciting.
Gaunt, half German, is busy fighting his own private battle--an all-consuming infatuation with his best friend, the glamorous, charming Ellwood--without a clue that Ellwood is pining for him in return. When Gaunt's family asks him to enlist to forestall the anti-German sentiment they face, Gaunt does so immediately, relieved to escape his overwhelming feelings for Ellwood. To Gaunt's horror, Ellwood rushes to join him at the front, and the rest of their classmates soon follow. Now death surrounds them in all its grim reality, often inches away, and no one knows who will be next.
An epic tale of both the devastating tragedies of war and the forbidden romance that blooms in its grip, In Memoriam is a breathtaking debut.
A Best Book of the Year: The New Yorker, The Washington Post, NPR
“In Memoriam is the story of a great tragedy, but it is also a moving portrait of young love.”—The New York Times
It’s 1914, and World War I is ceaselessly churning through thousands of young men on both sides of the fight. The violence of the front feels far away to Henry Gaunt, Sidney Ellwood and the rest of their classmates, safely ensconced in their idyllic boarding school in the English countryside. News of the heroic deaths of their friends only makes the war more exciting.
Gaunt, half German, is busy fighting his own private battle--an all-consuming infatuation with his best friend, the glamorous, charming Ellwood--without a clue that Ellwood is pining for him in return. When Gaunt's family asks him to enlist to forestall the anti-German sentiment they face, Gaunt does so immediately, relieved to escape his overwhelming feelings for Ellwood. To Gaunt's horror, Ellwood rushes to join him at the front, and the rest of their classmates soon follow. Now death surrounds them in all its grim reality, often inches away, and no one knows who will be next.
An epic tale of both the devastating tragedies of war and the forbidden romance that blooms in its grip, In Memoriam is a breathtaking debut.
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Community Reviews
••• one sentence •••
An equally heartbreaking and beautiful love story through the trenches of war.
••• review •••
✨ At less than 50 pages in I was already hopelessly attached to the main male characters. It takes a certain, beautiful kind of writing to create such deep attachments to characters in only a handful of pages. “In Memoriam” follows two boys from England during World War I from their time at boarding school, through the war, and after.
✨ This is one of the most heartbreaking and beautiful love stories I have read. The personal growth that the characters go through is incredible. They must fight against prejudice both from others and within their own minds, creating a powerful story of what it means to grow and love and accept yourself.
✨ I also loved the friendships that the characters develop throughout the book. Moments of love between those friends were some of the most genuine scenes in the book.
✨ Overall, I would recommend this book to just about anyone!
••• quotes •••
An equally heartbreaking and beautiful love story through the trenches of war.
••• review •••
✨ At less than 50 pages in I was already hopelessly attached to the main male characters. It takes a certain, beautiful kind of writing to create such deep attachments to characters in only a handful of pages. “In Memoriam” follows two boys from England during World War I from their time at boarding school, through the war, and after.
✨ This is one of the most heartbreaking and beautiful love stories I have read. The personal growth that the characters go through is incredible. They must fight against prejudice both from others and within their own minds, creating a powerful story of what it means to grow and love and accept yourself.
✨ I also loved the friendships that the characters develop throughout the book. Moments of love between those friends were some of the most genuine scenes in the book.
✨ Overall, I would recommend this book to just about anyone!
••• quotes •••
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This was an incredibly magnificent story about two young men falling in love during the horrific and devastating events of World War I. Henry Gaunt and Sidney Ellwood were passionate students at their English boarding school who felt it was their duty to enter the war. So, at seventeen Henry enlists to assuage rumors about his family's German ancestry. Sidney decides he must also enlist to be beside Henry on the front line. Obviously, the reality of the war is so far beyond anyone's previous perception; and both Henry and Sidney suffer from the extremely horrid and gory realities of the conflict. However, their love for each other only grows stronger and seems less taboo to them. This story is told with such realism and based on so many facts that it's hard to dispute anything about this book. Alice Winn is a very gifted author who spent years researching the war in detail.
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