This book will haunt me - so unexpectedly moving. I have read a lot about World War 1 in terms of fiction (and WW2!) so I did not expect any surprises, but the relationships which develop in this book floored me.It is a slow burner and the first few chapters were a bit of a battle, but it came highly recommended to me by someone I respect and I kept going. I work in a boarding school - not one of the ones that inspired this book, but maybe it made the read feel more intimate to me.

I knew the death count at WW1 was catastrophic and that a generation of young men died, leaving a generation of females with no potential husbands - but this book really brought home the realisation of that to me. The 'roll' call of the dead, the boys who were forced to sign up, and then died the first day of battle, the courage, the hardship, the bloodshed...what can I say.

This isn't a gory book, and it does not glamorise war or death as a result of it. Don't miss this stunning read!

Brilliant, and everything historical fiction should be: immersive, impeccably researched, and a masterclass in using the historical period to shape the narrative, rather than plopping any old story into the past. This one is absolutely going to be a classic.

This book is obviously beautifully written but unfortunately the subject matter was too intense for me so I had to put it down. I do hope to read it one day but yes, I can’t say much other than I’m sure the rest of it is absolutely stunning.

This was such a beautiful and heartbreaking book - a truly magnificent piece of writing.

A book that is sure to become a modern classic.

I utterly adored this book, it is so unbelievably special and I have already recommended it and bought it for so many people! It will stay with me for a really long time.

I loved this book, although it took me longer than usual to read it as I had to keep breaking off when it became too upsetting. It is brilliantly written though, and the characters really come alive as essentially young boys. The sheer scale of the losses never loses its force, and the way the "survivors" talk so casually about the dead and injured is heartbreaking. The relationship between Ellwood and Gaunt is very believable, and they are completely sympathetic, in spite of their privilege, and their attitudes.
My one small gripe (which the author acknowledges) is the way she has lifted accounts and put them (successfully) in the book. I kept coming across incidents which seemed familiar to me, but in a different context. It doesn't detract from this excellent, but very moving book though.
This book deserves to be part of the classic literature about the Great War. I will definitely be recommending this to everyone I know.

An incredible book, absolutely heartbreaking at times but full of such love and joy. I think this is one of my favourite books in a long time and it will stay with me for a long time

This was one of the most beautiful books I've ever read. Gaunt and Ellwood's story will stay in my mind forever and I felt so compelled to keep reading. I had to take breaks regularly to stop myself from crying but my heart ached and longed to know more! Already one of my top reads this year.

In Memoriam does not disappoint, living up to the hype and all the recommendations out there. A beautifully crafted tale of male friendship, longing and love, which sees the storyline flit between the boredom and horrors of the trenches of France to the disconnect of life in the UK. The narrative is interspersed with 'memoriam' lists for fallen comrades providing a stark reality of real loss, highlighting the volume of youth killed in a single public school microcosm.

Although centring on a homosexual relationship, Winn is able to examine the numerous ways in which society hides parts of themselves, whether that be trauma of war, trauma of difference, trauma of class or trauma of 'luck'.

In Memoriam feels like a very truthful and honest read, unflinching in it's spotlight on one of the darkest eras of human conflict, finding hope and joy in hidden corners.

I really don’t think I can do justice to quite how phenomenal In Memoriam is – but I will try my best. It is essentially a love story set in the midst of the First World War between two young men from the same boarding school in England. I have read a lot of war stories, although mostly from World War Two, however this has to be one of the most affecting and devastatingly heart wrenching accounts of the horror and trauma that millions of young men, often teenagers, faced during World War One. In Memoriam is harrowing, unflinchingly brutal and terrifying in its honesty about what soldiers on the front line experienced. It also sheds a light on the trauma and life long consequences for the few that managed to survive. Saying all that, this is somehow not a depressing book. It is tender, delicate and achingly moving in its depiction of the main characters, Gaunt and Ellwood, and their complicated, yet somehow simple in its devotion, relationship. I rarely find myself in tears over a book but In Memoriam managed it.

I genuinely find it staggering that this is a debut novel. It feels like a classic piece of literature already, I know it will stay in my mind forever. Alice Winn writes as if she was in the World War One trenches, which is obviously not the case, but it truly feels that immediate whilst reading. She somehow manages to extract a sense of beauty and love even in the darkest and most horrifying of circumstances. In Memoriam is a tour de force love story written with an assured elegance and depth. One of the best books I’ve ever read.

When I read this blurb, I knew it was immediately going to the top of my need to read list, and honestly, it didn’t disappoint. Set in 1914, we meet the boys of a boarding school in the idyllic English countryside, so far removed from the horrors of the frontline, that the news of their former classmates dying for their country seems heroic and almost exciting.

Our protagonist Henry Gaunt is not only struggling with the fact that he is half German in the biggest war between his two nationalities, but he is also coming to terms with an all-consuming infatuation with his best friend Sidney… in a world where two men are not free to love each other.

Forced by his family to enlist, Gaunt feels he has no choice but to pull himself away from Sidney, only to find that Sidney is reluctant to let him go and also later enlists. Now they are surrounded by the realities of war, and the fact that they may not ever find a way back to each other.

What Alice Winn accomplishes in her debut novel is nothing short of literary magic. Her characters are engaging without being overly perfect; these boys are incredibly privileged and flawed, but you can’t help being won over by their charm and this beautiful relationship she weaves together. Their connection is raw, honest and compelling and there’s something very real about the people she’s brought to life on paper.

Winn does not shy away from reality either, presenting not only the horrors of war, but highlighting class difference as well as tackling the idea of homosexuality in a world where it simply wasn’t accepted. Her writing is visceral, truthful and often violent and you can’t help but be moved and changed by this story.

In Memoriam is a powerful and thought-provoking novel that had me reaching for my tissues more than once. Beautiful work that I’m already planning to reread.

“He thought perhaps all the pain would sour the love, but instead it drew him further in, as if he were Marc Antony, falling on his own sword. And it was a magical thing, to love someone so much; it was a feeling so strange and slippery, like a sheath of fabric cut from the sky.”

Short version: This novel swept me up in an epic love story and dropped me down in the trenches of the First World War and I don't think I will be quite the same ever again.

I love novels like this, ones that can take you to the far reaches of a particular time and place and make you feel as though it were yesterday. I could picture the clean, orderly classrooms of the school and the bright faces of the young men pouring over the Roll of Honour in The Preshuitan newspaper, eagerly hoping for their turn to go to the front. The descriptions of the conditions in the trenches are in full technicolour - the stinking mud, the rats feeding on the corpses of soldiers, and in one particularly horrifying passage, the fingers of men sticking out of the ground and into the trench where the ground they had been buried in had washed away in the rain.

I appreciated the nod towards the war poets (particularly Siegfriend Sassoon and Wilfred Owen) via Ellwood, who is full of the words of Tennyson and Keats before the war but it's only when he's fighting can he express himself on the page. Ironically, it's the lack of communication between Ellwood and Gaunt that often leads to conflict between them.

The love story between Ellwood and Gaunt was definitely the element that kept me reading. I wanted to find out whether they could get their "happy ending" or if the war would keep them apart. The secret longing, the unspoken desires and then their coming together are almost tangible through the pages. Both characters have their flaws, Ellwood is vain and selfish and Gaunt can be far too stoic but this added a realistic element to the relationship.

In Memoriam was an incredible novel to read, especially in the days leading up to Remembrance Day, and the clippings from The Preshutian listing the school boys who died for their country was very sobering. I have two stepsons aged 21 and 19 and I can't bear to think about how they might have fared in the trenches. I look forward to reading more by Alice Winn in the future.

Recommend to fans of Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks, Regeneration by Pat Barker and My Dear, I Wanted to Tell You by Louisa Young.

What an incredible debut by Alice Winn. Two 17year old boys at a posh Wiltshire boarding school get sent to war. One to escape their confusing feelings for the other. This is beautifully written and fast paced. Absolutely loved it and recommend.

Fantastic book, very daring
Real page turner of love loss and war. Utterly emotional

Thank you for the chance to read this book.

WW1 set novels are a real weakness of mine and I was hooked on this one from the very beginning and was invested in the boys' wars from the outset and really felt that I was a fly on the wall of all of the action.
Having read widely around WW1 for many years I very much liked the nods to other literature and events from the time - especially Journey's End which is one of my favourite plays of all time.

This is a definite contender for my best of the year list

This is a book ever, one should read - it is deeply moving and profound and shows the brutality of the war which begins at the school (Marlbrough College) and how the boys play in the woods, have fights and quote poems to each other leading us to two boys in particular, Henry Gaunt and Sidney Ellwood who have intense feelings for each other, forbidden feelings as they were at that time.
Gaunt enlists as soon as he is 18 and Ellwood follows soon afterwards.
This is a love story of a different kind, but adventure is a big part of the story with excellent descriptions of the trenches, POW camps and daring escapes.
This is surprisingly a debut novel and one which is so moving and it is a moving account of the Great War and class destruction and the loss of innocent lives to many to mention.

This is quite possibly one of the best books I’ve ever read! Deeply moving, poignant with a full mix of tragedy and warmth. Elwood, Gaunt and their gang of lovable mates both filled and broke my heart. I loved the way the narrative moved perspectives, from past to present, from poem to letter to newspaper to prose. An absolutely sublime debut. Perfection!

Without a doubt the best book I’ve read this year and one of my favourite ever reads. Song of Achilles meets WW1 - I couldn’t get enough of this and I’m so sad to have finished it!

In many ways, In Memoriam is a WW1 story that has been told many times - 2 public schoolboys volunteer and quickly learn the horrible realities of war in the trenches - but seen through the eyes of two gay protaganists.

Winn really captures the era, but its the characters of Henry Gaunt and Sidney Ellwood and their relationship that are the heart of the story. From pining schoolboys unable to admit their feelings, to soldiers finding joy with each other amongst the terror of war to battle-hardened world-weary adults, I was rooting for these characters throughout.

There were a few small issues (they send a lot of letters that would be risky to send due to army censorship, for example) that slightly pulled me out of story.

But, overall, this was an emotional queer story with compelling characters and a vivid historical setting.

This book was heartbreaking. I honestly couldn't keep reading for how much it was tearing me apart. I haven't cried so much while reading a book, and I just couldn't see a happy ending coming. Did not finish.