Sourcebooks/Landmark, 2014.
Two Stars
As World War I begins, Helen Windship Brooks, an intelligent young woman from an upper class Boston family, is accepted into an all-male class at Harvard University. There she meets Wils Brandt, a German student living in America, and his British cousin Riley. Anti-German sentiment is increasing, and Wils and his friends find themselves targeted by their fellow students. Helen and Wils fall awkwardly and predictably in love, until Wils is called back to Germany as a soldier. Meanwhile, Riley signs up to fight for the Allies, putting him in direct conflict with his cousin Wils.
It was interesting to read a WWI story from the perspective of a German citizen living in America – it’s not something I’ve ever read before, and we are not taught to feel sympathy for someone like Wils. It turns our righteousness about the war upside down. Because of this, I was not surprised to read in the afterword that the author had a mission in writing this story. She began this novel with the intention of showing how people deal with devastating loss in situations such as this one. I felt like it was an effort to fit the story into her chosen theme – it comes across as very forced.
Overall, the novel was very sentimental and unbelievable. The classroom scenes did have some dialogue that sounded authentic, but otherwise the conversations were uneven and rushed. The language was very old-fashioned, even more so than it should be in 1914. The relationship between Helen and Wils was very sudden – it was meant to be a sweeping romance, but it just did not ring true.
Many different socio-political issues are dealt with here, often in thoughtful and thought-provoking ways. Everyone is focused on pushing their own agenda, whichever nationality they are. We also get a small peek into the women’s rights movement of the time, as Helen’s mother is jailed for spreading information on family planning and contraceptives. I wish this theme had been explored further, but Helen just finds her mother embarrassing and does all she can to avoid her. She could have been a strong female role model for Helen, and it would have been fun to read more about her misadventures.
Although it was a sentimental historical romance, the first half of the novel could be read and enjoyed as such. However, I felt like there was no continuity into the second half of the story. The boys go off to war, and Helen loses all hope and ambition for herself. I did appreciate that the ending was realistic and not as sentimental, but there were a lot of hints that something more was coming, and the ending just did not follow through. Helen, Wils and their friends and families were secondary to the author’s goals in writing a novel about grief and loss, and because of that, the novel was very anti-climactic.
I received this book for free through Sourcebooks/Landmark and Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.
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