In Memoriam by Alice Winn

Sunday, Sept. 3, 2023--San Antonio

In Memoriam by Alice Winn is an excellent book.  It grabbed my attention from the beginning.  And even though much of it is set during WWI with all the gruesome details of the horrors of that war, I never wanted to put it down.  Most of the characters are young male upper-class students who have attended a British public school.  The two main characters are two boys/young men who have been best friends for years and who have secretly loved each other but never confessed that fact to each other out of fear that their love would be rejected and their friendship affected negatively.  Not until they have each volunteered for the war and ended up as officers in the same regiment (with one having been there for 6 months before the other arrives) is there ever any affection expressed between them, and it comes then due to the horrors of the war making them realize that they may never have a future beyond the war and must make do with what little time they have during the war until they die.  But tragedies soon begin to occur that keep pushing them apart and affecting the health of each (physical for one and both physical and mental for the other) as the war continues.  What makes reading the story so difficult is that their lives become so difficult when the reader knows the war is only about half over.  Will they ever be able to be together again? If so, how can they live their lives the way the prefer given the draconian laws in England against homosexuality?  And if they can be together again, will each still be able to love the other considering the traumas from the war that have affected them?  I highly recommend the book and gave it a rating of 5 stars out of 5.