In Memoriam
by Alice Winn
“Ellwood smiled, and a sudden, dry bleakness spread over Gaunt’s heart as he thought of Hercules, and Hector, and all the heroes in myth who found happiness briefly, only for it not to be the end of the story.” ― Alice Winn, In Memoriam
In Memoriam, Alice Winn's debut novel, is a remarkable work of historical fiction that skillfully strikes a balance between the visceral, unrelenting horrors of World War I and a tender, forbidden gay romance. It follows the lives of two affluent English boarding school students, Henry Gaunt and Sidney Ellwood, as they move from the idyllic safety of their youth into the deadly trenches of the Western Front.
The fictional Preshute College is where the story begins in 1914. Sidney Ellwood, a charming boy who loves poetry, and Henry Gaunt, a reserved half-German, are best friends who are secretly in love. Gaunt enlists early to shield his family from anti-German sentiment and to get away from the excruciating weight of his suppressed emotions. Ellwood and many of their gullible classmates follow him to the front line after being horrified by his departure. The glorious war they envisioned turns into mud, trauma, shell shock, and catastrophic loss, and what follows is a brutal awakening.
Winn draws a contrast between the grim reality of mechanized slaughter and the idealized, poetic nationalism that young men are taught. The emotional core of the book is Gaunt and Ellwood's relationship. The tragedy of a love that is strong enough to endure the trenches but socially and legally taboo back home is masterfully captured by Winn. The book examines how these affluent, teenage boys with limited experience were given immediate military command over men's lives due to the strict British class system. School newspaper clippings that document the catastrophic erasure of an entire generation of boys in real time are scattered throughout the book.
I found the book engaging and especially appreciated the realistic historical details supporting the fictional narrative of love and loss.
View all my reviews
Winn draws a contrast between the grim reality of mechanized slaughter and the idealized, poetic nationalism that young men are taught. The emotional core of the book is Gaunt and Ellwood's relationship. The tragedy of a love that is strong enough to endure the trenches but socially and legally taboo back home is masterfully captured by Winn. The book examines how these affluent, teenage boys with limited experience were given immediate military command over men's lives due to the strict British class system. School newspaper clippings that document the catastrophic erasure of an entire generation of boys in real time are scattered throughout the book.
I found the book engaging and especially appreciated the realistic historical details supporting the fictional narrative of love and loss.
View all my reviews
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