Set in the backdrop of WWI, two loves stories intertwine as the couples face trauma, and bigotry with the help of the gods.

Yes, this is a frame story a la The Princess Bride beginning when Hephestus infamously catches Aphrodite and Ares in the act with his enchanted net and puts Aphrodite on trial for infidelity. Calling on her witnesses, Apollo and Hades, Aphrodite weaves a tale of true love to prove that she cannot love.

What? The goddess of love cannot love, Hephastus and Ares said the same thing but she explains that her affair with Ares is just lust and her marriage is loveless. It is not the true will-do-anything-die-for-you love that the mortals share.

And so it begins at an army dance in London where Lt. James and Hazel meet for the first time and have a brief but sweet three days together, it is almost cruel but that is the way love is. But Hazel signs up for YMCA as James is sent off for basic training and they faithfully send letters, hopeful and young until the war strikes. Hazel learns more about the double standards presented to woman in the army, racism and the fragile hope of love. James deals with death, trenches and shellshock and both wonder if the other will still love them even though they don’t feel like the same people anymore.

Meanwhile Lt. Aubrey and Hazel’s friend, Colette have their own trials to bear. Aubrey is a black soldier from Harlem abroad for the first time with dreams to make it big in the jazz scene after he serves his country. But the army is filled with the same racists and danger as back home and thus suffers not only war on front but the war on the homefront as the segregated white soldiers demean and threaten the black squadrons. It makes him even more determined to prove himself for his country and also more determined to keep seeing Colette, even though she’s a white Belgian girl and “off limits.” Colette has her own trauma as the sole survivor of a village massacre where Germans killed her family and her boyfriend. Both are scared of love, both scared of letting in someone and losing them but it is part of what makes their love story so compelling.

While Hazel and James are youthful innocent love turned mature, Colette and Aubrey find refuge in each other as they live in a cruel, unkind world. Both pull at the heartstrings and their steadfastedness even in death, mutiliation and missing correspondence does paint a moving picture of why Aphrodite considers their love true. Perhaps it’s their short fragility of mortal life that makes them love all the more.

But it is not only about love, it is also about hatred and disillusionment as the soldiers realize that war is not as glorious as they had believed they’d be. That their lives are being sacrificed by old war men who sit in their offices while they get poisoned in the trenches. It is also about death as seen in the moving passages narrated by Hades as he greets the souls passing over.

The addition of the greek gods added a magical realism and levity to the piece as they acted as the eternal teens/children they are with Ares complaining about Aphrodite wanting to tell love stories instead of manly war tales or the Apollo’s locker room talk wink wink with Hades. It shows how apart they are from the mortals and exactly proves Aphrodite’s point that they can’t understand the true love humans share with each other. Aphrodite was an interesting take, very three dimensional as it shows the seductive flirtiness she is usually characterized as with a mature, omnipresent wisdom for when it comes to emotional matters of the heart.
There is also a surprise twist at the end that brings a new perspective to Aphrodite and Hephestus’ relationship.

Berry did a lovely job in depiciting early 20th century grit and innovation filled with contrasting optimism and disatisfaction as the war goes on. Plus her descriptions of the power of music, jazz and ragtime especially, makes you feel like you could hear it off the page. It’s also clear she did her research as you can read her historical notes in the back providing more context about Military Segregation, Treatment of African-Americans pre & post WWI, the rise of Jazz and womens’ participation in the WWI services.

She does a great job in switching between the etheral omniprescent tone of the Gods giving it a magical sheen, and the more rough yet romanticized voices of the mortals in WWI.

The only flaw I feel was Aubrey and Colette’s disappearence in Part 5. I mean they were there and readers knew they were alive, but there’s one-two chapters from their POVs. It also leaves Aubrey’s heroic exploits on the battlefield that earn him a distinguished service medal off the page which was disappointing as the two romances had been pretty balance until then.

A great book for anyone who likes a sprawling, evocative historical fiction like Ruta Septys, but sprinkled with magical realism of the Greek Gods as narrators and orchestrators.