Books › In Memoriam
In Memoriam
400 pages
A devastatingly beautiful collision of tender first love and the brutal, shattering reality of the trenches.
What it feels like
Reading this book feels like holding your breath while watching a beautiful, fragile thing walk into a storm. It begins in the sun-drenched, poetry-filled halls of an elite boarding school, steeped in the agonizing, unspoken yearning of first love, before plunging you headlong into the mud and blood of the trenches. The pace is propulsive, driven by a desperate need to know if these boys will survive both the war and their own repressed desires. The prose is lyrical yet unflinching, contrasting the tender intimacy of the central romance with the visceral, senseless slaughter of combat. It is a devastating, dread-soaked, and ultimately breathtaking experience that will completely wreck readers who love sweeping, tragic historical romances and emotionally immersive storytelling.
- Mood
- harrowing
- bittersweet
- dread-soaked
- passionate
- atmospheric
- Tone
- earnest
- devastating
- romantic
- elegiac
- tender
- Pace
- propulsive
- Themes
- loss of innocence · brutality of war · forbidden love · class and privilege · trauma and survival
- The writing
- Lyrical and evocative, balancing the brutal realism of the battlefield with the tender, poetic intimacy of first love.
- The arc
- Moves from the idyllic, repressed yearning of youth to the visceral trauma of the trenches, culminating in a hard-won, fragile hope.
- Who it's for
- Readers who crave emotionally devastating historical fiction with a sweeping, star-crossed romance at its core.
Content notes
- graphic war violence
- gore
- death of friends
- homophobia
- PTSD and trauma
- grief
About the book
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. --penguinrandomhouse.com
Description from Open Library.
Books like In Memoriam
See why they match
Young MungoDouglas StuartA devastatingly tender exploration of queer first love blooming in the cracks of a brutal, hyper-masculine world.
History Is All You Left MeAdam SilveraA raw, tear-jerking exploration of first love, profound loss, and the messy, nonlinear path to healing.
Don't Want You Like a Best FriendEmma R. AlbanA delightful, swoon-worthy romp through Victorian ballrooms where a matchmaking scheme accidentally sparks a breathless queer romance.
WitchmarkC. L. PolkA gaslit blend of murder mystery, political intrigue, and tender romance set in the shadow of a magical world war.
They Both Die at the EndAdam SilveraA ticking-clock romance that breaks your heart while desperately urging you to live.
The Swimming-Pool LibraryAlan HollinghurstAn impeccably composed, darkly erotic elegy for a lost era of aristocratic privilege and gay life.