In Memoriam

A Novel

By: Alice Winn

Narrated by: 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

Critic reviews

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.

Riveting

Narrators were wonderful, seamless conversations and descriptions. diction and acccents genuine. History made accessible and entertaining.

My new favorite book

I could not put this book down. It was heartbreaking in so many ways and really made me feel for the young men of the time. No one should be shamed into going to war. I think this book is so well written and well rounded.

One of the best in a long time

Alice Winn is brilliant. This is a graphic, emotional, romantic, erotic, beautifully written story about war and love.

Lest we forget.

What marvellous prose and poetry. This book will stay with me forever and I’m sure to reread it.

Compelling Story

So beautifully written. It's really about if love can survive what war does to a person. Highly recommend