In Love And War by Liz Trenow is a powerful novel showing the futility of war. It was reminiscent of the film Oh What A Lovely War in that I was reminded of the utter waste of young lives on both sides.
The novel is set six months after the end of the First World War during a Thomas Cook pilgrimage to the battlefields of Belgium. Everywhere there is desolation as communities try to rebuild their lives.
At the centre is a core group… an English woman looking for her husband, an American lady looking for her brother and a German mother and son looking for her older son. They are united in grief and the devastation that loss causes. They cling on to the hope that their loved ones will be found… whilst there are no graves there is always hope as many soldiers were still wandering, lost in their minds as shell shock took over.
The suffering of war knows no boundaries. It matters little which side you fought on when your heart is breaking. Loss binds the spirit of humanity together.
There were some powerful scenes set in the war cemeteries. Particularly horrific was the job of digging up remains to give a burial with dignity.
There will always be survivor’s guilt. “Feeling guilty for being alive in a place where people had suffered such misery.” Life has to go on or the sacrifices of yesterday will have been in vain.
Much bitterness existed towards the German nation following the end of WWI. Germany was defeated and suffering under the terms of the Treaty Of Versailles but still the people were regarded with suspicion and hate. People forgot that those left behind had lost loved ones too in the cannon fodder that was WWI. No one wins in wars. Mothers lost sons on both sides. Families were torn apart. Lives devastated by the war to end all wars but it didn’t.
Liz Trenow has produced a marvellous tale that really highlights the devastation for families on both sides. There is a powerful quote that really says it all:
“In your hands you held our hopes, our dreams and our future.”
May we never forget those who gave their yesterday so we could live today.
I received this book for free. A favourable review was not required and all views expressed are my own.

Three very different women join tours to visit the battlefields of Ypres soon after the end of ww1, Ruby a shy English widow, who's husband was killed on the battlefield, Alice a brash American who's young brother joined up Illegally and possibly under a false name and Martha a German with her son Otto who's older son was in the battle. Each of these women have their own stories and reasons for being there.

This book was fascinating and I couldn't put it down, the story worked really well being from there different points of view and great that one of them was German so really giving you a full picture. I have read all of the books by Liz Trenow and loved all of them

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, I was recommending it to friends as I was reading it!
Having visited the town of Ypres and Menin Gate and been to one of the nightly remembrance ceremonies, I was intrigued by the blurb. Liz Trenow does her research and this was obvious. The book doesn't end as you would expect it to, it's not a wishy washy romance where they all end up happily ever after. As we know in war that doesn't happen.
I liked the main characters very much. I felt embarrassment at the treatment of some of the characters, but in their shoes, I may have done the same thing.
A great story of love and the effects of war and what a complete waste of time it all is.
Thanks to NetGalley, Liz Trenow and the publisher Pan Macmillan for the opportunity to read and review this good solid book.

This was a simply beautiful “quiet” read, focusing on three fascinating women who visit the graveyards of Flanders shortly after the end of the First World War, searching for their missing loved ones. As well as searching for her husband’s grave, Ruby is looking for forgiveness for a deed she bitterly regrets. Alice’s brother joined up under the Canadian flag and probably under a false name, so her search is never going to be easy – but meeting up with a man from her past life adds an interesting twist. And then there is Martha, searching for her older son, accompanied by her younger son Otto… but without the support, and not in the same graveyards.

The story itself is enthralling, as these three very different women strive for the outcomes they hope for. They are perfectly drawn, each of them affected and changed by their experience, strengths and weaknesses exposed in unexpected ways. The backdrop is vividly described – the lush farmlands giving way to devastation and waste as they near Hoppestadt, the trenches still visible and bringing a horrifying reality to the theatre of war, bodies still being recovered nearby, the vast graveyards shocking with their evidence of wasted lives, the visual reminders of the way deserters were dealt with. The insight into the lives of those whose towns and homes were impacted is also superbly handled – with the feelings about the Germany that caused the devastation barely concealed beneath their brave attempts to rebuild and start again.

The emotional impact of this book is enormous – I cried so many times, and ached at the injustice and unfairness of it all. But it’s also immensely uplifting, with its concentration on the goodness and kindness of individuals – and the moving message that people are perhaps better remembered for their actions than by visiting their memorials. This lovely book will remain in my memory for a very long time to come…

In Love and War is the beautifully written new novel from historical fiction author Liz Trenow. This a genre which I would say is my favourite and I can't get enough of it. This story is a detailed observation of how families and individuals attempt to pick up the pieces left behind by the ravages of war in this case the First World War. It is a stunning observation of three women's attempts to overcome their grief, to find answers to the innumerable questions running through their minds. In a bid to find peace and resolution a journey is undertaken by all three not just in their homeland, no they want answers and to achieve they travel back to the scene of where their loved ones fought but in doing so they paid the ultimate price. Each women is from a vastly different background and different circumstances have brought them to Belgium. As we travel with them in their attempt to seek closure the reader as do the characters experience a myriad of emotions as the full horrors of what their men and loved ones endured becomes clear. This is no easy path to uncover the truth or the burial sites and the author does not shy away from the brutal realities for all involved at the time. If she had done so the book would have lacked depth and substance and not been the remarkable, emotive story it turned out to be.
In Love and War is entirely fictional but was inspired by real people, places and events. Tubby Clayton, the army Chaplin /priest who helps Ruby was a real person and it was lovely to see the light shone upon a person who may have ultimately been eroded from history despite the valuable role they played. The themes of the book are very much ones of bereavement and how to cope but also reconciliation, forgiveness and acceptance play a huge part. This book is not full of drama as there had been enough dramatics and horror with the unspeakable events of the war with so many lives lost. Instead this is a subtle exploration of trying to find understanding in order for peace to enter into one's heart. The pace of the story is slow and languid. It doesn't need twists and turns on every page to keep the reader hooked. Sometimes the quality of the words speak for themselves rather than actions. There is no necessity for this as the characters and the trip they are on through such astute, careful writing does the work instead of surprises thrown in just for the sake of it. Yes towards the end there are a few shocks, some pleasant, some not but they didn't interrupt the flow of the overall story. They were placed at essential points and helped the reader clarify things or assumptions they may have had were confirmed or denied.
Initially, I wondered was having three women as the main characters just that bit too much too focus on but I was quickly proven wrong. As there is many sides to a story, so there is many sides to a war and all three provided valid viewpoints and allowed a well rounded opinion of things to come through. It never felt like the author herself was coming down on one side or the author. She stood back and took in all aspects and presented a very well balanced viewpoint. It was different to see a German woman featured-Martha and her son Otto. Normally, I read stories focusing on either of the wars and it is all about the English side so it was refreshing and an eye opener for me. It makes the reader realise the opposing side, despite the terror they inflicted had families waiting at home for them too and at the end of the day they suffered just as much as everyone else did. Martha is fulfilling the final promise of her husband who passed away from the Spanish flu. She wishes to reunite medals with her son Heinrich. This is a bitter sweet journey filled with pain and heartache as they are not reuniting with their loved one instead searching for the place of his burial. One of hundreds of thousands of men who lost their lives. Being German and travelling to Belgium would certainly have not been recommended following the conclusion of war. Hatred, anger, suspicion and revenge abound but a mother and wife's love is strong and she wishes to see the request through until she finds that resting place.
Ruby Barton is travelling from England, leaving on a boat for the first time in her life. Belgium is her destination and she wishes the reasons for her journey were not there. That she would be journeying from England with a happier goal in mind. She is on a tour organised by Thomas Cook of the Belgian battlefields in Flanders, where families of those who fought can see where everything happened and try and find the grave of their relation amongst the hundreds of thousands. In this case it is Ruby's husband, Bertie. She doesn't want to go on the trip. She is grieving, she wants peace, to live a quiet ordered life honouring his memory and never to allow heartache to reach her door again. She wants to remain shut off from any further mentions of love. The reader can see there is something else also eating away at her and until she can satisfy this no resolution can be found. She feels duty bound to visit the grave sites as instructed by her parents in law.

Ruby was very much like a fish out of water and I felt she was brave going on her own not knowing what she would encounter. A country torn apart by war with villages decimated and people struggling to live amongst ruins and the lack of food and facilities. How macabre it must have been for the Belgians to have foreigners as such still encroaching on their land and country even after the war had concluded. On the other hand these tours must have brought solace to families to see where their loved ones had fallen and been buried. It must have been an incredibly difficult journey for anyone who undertook it 100 years ago. Hopefully with the tours people would come away with a greater appreciation of what war really means and a determination never to allow it to happen again. If only they knew what the future would hold.

The third woman couldn't have been more different from Ruby and Martha, Alice Palmer comes from a wealthy American background and is in Europe to search for her brother Sam. He was last declared missing and the family want affirmative answers. Was he captured by the Germans? Was he a deserter? Or was his ultimate fate -death? Alice too was brave like Ruby but I think I preferred Ruby's character. Alice seemed to be over the top and at times it felt romance played a more important factor than finding the answers did. The women only had a week to uncover what they were looking for and Alice seemed to be more enamoured with her old flame Daniel Martens. She conveniently forgot she had a fiancée waiting back at home for her. Yet she was the force that pushed Ruby on, to abandon the organised tour and go to Hops to meet the locals and ask the questions that needed to be spoken out loud. The details of the village of Hops and the surrounding areas were incredible. The author clearly undertook a lot of research and I build up a vivid, realistic picture in my mind that really enhanced my enjoyment and understanding of the story. It made me appreciate how much the people who were very near to the front-lines of the battle fields endured and how they suffered long after the final shot was fired. So much historical detail was brought to life through the three women's stories and I felt every emotion they were experiencing. I knew there could not have been a happy outcome for all, that would have gone against the authenticity and the character of the book. But still I was ever hopeful regarding certain characters.
In Love and War was an excellent book. It's wrong to say I enjoyed or loved it given the subject matter. Maybe those are not the best words to use but that is how I felt about this story. The characters and setting leap off the page to meet you and transport you back 100 years to a world very different in some ways to the one we inhabit now yet in others war is still very much a part of our lives today. Liz Trenow has done an exceptional job of bringing to life characters you feel such empathy and compassion for. I would never have given any thought for what happened after the war as the world kept turning and other events stepped in to take its place, make the news and have people talking. It was fitting in the centenary year of the conclusion of World War One that this was published and Liz Trenow should be proud of the story she has written. It's beautifully crafted and one which gives lots of food for thought and discussion. One not to be missed.

A novel dealing with the aftermath of the First World War and the early days of battlefield tourism, ‘In Love and War’ follows three very different women with the same ideal: travel to the battlefields in Belgium to deal with love and loss, and perhaps lay some ghosts to rest in the process.
British Ruby’s husband Bertie was killed at Passchendaele, but his body was never found, American Alice is searching for clues about her missing brother Sam, who signed up for the Canadian Army and was never heard from again after a single letter from Belgium, and German Martha is wanting to visit her son’s final resting place.
In an ordinary world, these women would never meet, but, in 1919, Ruby and Alice find themselves drawn together in their quest for closure.
The locations are well described, and you can imagine the horror of Ruby, Alice and their fellow ‘pilgrims’ as they see the destruction of war first hand, and the scale of loss as they visit the grounds of what would eventually become Tyne Cot Cemetery.
It’s a brave idea for a book, taking three different stories and weaving them into the same plot, but it works. Alice, Ruby and Martha are three likeable, very different women whose lives were changed for ever by the events of the war, as they seek answers to questions and mysteries they may never solve.
Despite tales (and hope) that their missing presumed dead loved ones are simply injured and unable to get home, there is no happy ending for Alice and Ruby in this respect (and for a novel on this subject, it would have taken away a lot of the emotional punch if Sam or Bertie had simply re-appeared alive and well in a Belgian hospital)
The inclusion of a German character adds a further dimension to the story as this is not something that is regularly explored in stories looking at the aftermath of war. It is interesting to see Martha posing as a Swiss national and pretending to be looking for the grave of her Nephew as there is clearly still an air of suspicion and mistrust of Germans amongst the locals in Belgium, and the reaction of local ‘tour guides’ when Martha expresses her wish to go to a German cemetery is well written, and, in its own way quite shocking. Indeed, it is perhaps sobering to remember that the impact of the war was far reaching for all concerned.
Compelling, touching, and believable, this is an easy going but serious and well researched book about the aftermath of war on those left behind, and the value of friendship. For a largely fictional story, there is a lot of historical fact, and it paints a vivid and realistic picture of the realties faced by the families of those who lost their lives on the battlefields.

Thanks Pan Macmillan and netgalley for this ARC.

Liz Trenow's novels are the kind of books you want to curl up with on a cold night and just read to your heart's content. 'This one deals with the hard facts of war, friendship, love, and family.

Thanks Netgalley and the Publisher. This is based in 1919 and is a real page turner and very good read.