In Memoriam

A Novel

De: Alice Winn

Narrado por: Christian Coulson

GMA BUZZ PICK • INTERNATIONAL BEST SELLER AND AWARD WINNER • A haunting, virtuosic debut novel about two young men who fall in love during World War I • “Will live in your mind long after you’ve closed the final pages.” —Maggie O’Farrell, best-selling author of Hamnet and The Marriage Portrait

A Best Book of the Year: The New Yorker, The Washington Post, NPR

“In Memoriam is the story of a great tragedy, but it is also a moving portrait of young love.”—The New York Times

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.

©2023 Alice Winn (P)2023 Random House Audio

Reseñas de la Crítica

2023, Center for Fiction First Novel Prize: Long-listed

2024, VCU Cabell First Novelist Prize: Winner

A Best Book of the Year: The New Yorker, The Washington Post, NPR, BookPage, Shelf Awareness, and Spectator

"Magnificent—dazzling and wrenching, witty and wildly romantic, with echoes of Brideshead Revisited and Atonement. I loved it.” —Lev Grossman, author of The Magicians

“An epic love story amid the brutalities of war.” —People

“Glorious, addictive, exquisite . . . I couldn’t put it down.” —Hugh Ryan, New York Times Book Review

A Riveting book

This was an absolutely riveting read.

Alice Winn does an amazing job at bringing the horrors of War, and in particular, of World War One, to light. As a Historian who finds more fascination in the First World War, finding books like this is rare. It was as if I were living the war through Sidney Ellwood and Henry Gaunt.

The LGBT love plot was also truly beautiful to read, and I found myself having to put the book down every so often to really let the ongoing plot soak in. I unashamedly cried a few times.

And finally, the characterization, and the way that War can change people, was so beautifully written. I...truly, could not give this book anything more than this without spoilers. And I think that, like one of our beloved boys, I could not find the proper words.

The narration is amazing as well. Don't worry when you get to the lists in the book. The first time the names were read, it through me off too with the overlapping words. But it is a brilliant directive vision to do so.

I am destroyed

I honestly don't know what to say other than what's in the title of my review. this has to be tied with the Song of Achilles as my favorite book. If I could only be granted three wishes, one of them would be to be able to forget this book and reread it as many times as I wanted to.

The historical

I couldn’t put it down. The history and realism was so good and the action! Trust me. Read it. It is the first book she ever wrote.

Perfect!

Incredibly moving story and brilliant narration. One of the best I've ever listened to (or read). I can't recommend it enough.

A must read

This book was difficult to begin. The subject matter is dark and weighty. But it is worth the push.

The brutality of war is truly depicted in this book brushing away all of the Hollywood and television glamour. It is raw, brutal, and heartbreaking on so many levels that this young author actually captures.

I thought the characters were wonderful. I’ve never met characters like this and I love all the research and information gleaned in order to create this novel. The poetry adds so much to capturing the time and idealism of the people losing their lives in droves, and when I say people, I mean children directed to their death by, forgive me but, idiots set apart from what was really going on and just hurling darts trying to see what would work without any thought to the Tens of thousands of lives they were taking and the generation and future generation their actions without any thought, decimated.

Amazing

This book is unbelievably fantastic.
The characters are extremely Three dimensional and you love them in spite of their faults. The history is well researched and incredibly well described. Definitely A contender for my ten favorite books list!

Devastatingly beautiful

Against the backdrop of The Grewt War is a much quieter but deeper battle the two men at the center of this gorgeous book fight, both against themselves and each other. Winn handles it all with wit, poetry, and no small amount of brutal truth and emotion.

I cannot recommend this book highly enough.

The historical romance

Beautiful romance with a somber but hopeful ending, a well told story that illustrates the atrocities and reality of war

I don’t know how to feel

I loved reading it and I hated it. I don’t know how to feel about it, I need a couple days to process what I just read.

As a person who is not interested in war stories, Gaunt and Ellewood’s story will stay with me for some time, holy shit. I didn’t expect so many of their friends to die along the way. And poor Ellewood, he definitely had a harder time. I hope he can heal with Gaunt in Brazil

Be prepared for a lot of death. And sadness. But also some happiness. And for anyone who thinks Ellewood doesn’t love Gaunt anymore, clearly didn’t read close enough. I would love a sequel of them healing and growing old together, Jesus they’re only 21 in the ending.

Powerful

Amazing powerful book about the hidden stories of gay men during WW1. Heart wrenching and thought provoking novel.