Description
Book SynopsisWINNER OF WATERSTONES NOVEL OF THE YEAR AWARD
A TOP FIVE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER
WINNER OF THE BRITISH BOOK AWARDS DEBUT OF THE YEAR
''If you haven''t read it, you''re missing out'' BONNIE GARMUS, BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF LESSONS IN CHEMISTRY
''A devastating love story between two young men on the Western Front'' MAGGIE O''FARRELL, BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF HAMNET
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In 1914, war feels far away to Henry Gaunt and Sidney Ellwood. They''re too young to enlist, and anyway, Gaunt is fighting his own private battle - an all-consuming infatuation with the dreamy, poetic Ellwood - not having a clue that his best friend is in love with him, always has been.
When Gaunt''s mother asks him to enlist in the British army to protect the family from anti-German attacks, he signs up immediately, relieved to escape his overwhelming feelings. But Ellwood and their classmates soon follow him into the horrors of the trenches. Though Ellwood and Gaunt find fleeting moments of solace in one another, their friends are dying in front of them, and at any moment they could be next.
An epic tale of the devastating tragedies of war and the forbidden romance that blooms in its grip, In Memoriam is a breathtaking debut.
THE TOP FIVE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER, March 2023
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''One of the best debuts I''ve read in recent years: immersive, rousing, tender and devastating . . . please rush out and buy it'' ELIZABETH DAY
''BIRDSONG for a new generation'' JOANNA QUINN, AUTHOR OF THE WHALEBONE THEATRE
''Like looking at a black and white photograph which has been colourised . . . I was completely absorbed, moved, and transported'' CLAIRE FULLER, AUTHOR OF UNSETTLED GROUND
''When was the last time characters in a novel seemed so real to me, so cherishable, so alive?'' GARTH GREENWELL, AUTHOR OF CLEANNESS and WHAT BELONGS TO YOU
''In Memoriam is at once epic and intimate, humorous and profound, a vivid rendering of the madness and legacy of the first world war as seen through the lens of a schoolboy love affair'' Observer
''Propulsive, visceral and heartrending . . . I can''t remember the last time I was this invested in a love story'' Sunday Telegraph
''A genuine page-turner'' Sunday Times
''In Memoriam is gripping, tender, immersive and, most of all, completely unforgettable'' i, Fiction Pick of the Month
Sunday Times bestseller, November 2023
Trade ReviewIt's hard to believe that
In Memoriam is a debut novel as it's
so assured, affecting and moving. Alice Winn has written
a devastating love story between two young men that moves from the sheltered idyll of their public school to the unspeakable horrors of the Western Front during the First World War.
Gaunt and Ellwood will live in your mind long after you've closed the final pages. -- Maggie O'Farrell
One of the best debuts I've read in recent years: immersive, rousing, tender and devastating. In Memoriam is both
a deeply moving love story and a visceral evocation of the Great War, impressively free of cliche. Winn makes such important points about class, destruction and the loss of innocence.
I loved it with a startling ferocity -- Elizabeth Day
An instant classic -- Sara Collins
A tender, affecting debut . . . Winn strikingly evokes the torment and brutality of life of the front * The Times *
