"The problem is the past is still alive inside her. She carries it with her every second of every minute of every hour. She will never be free of her past..."
Love in a Time of War by Adrienne Chinn is a dual timeline historical saga, set in 1891 as well as before and during the WWI. It's a sweeping and dramatic novel, crammed with romance, emotion and heartache.
The timeline alternates between 1891 and 1913-1919.
Young Christina is staying with her cousin in Capri, Italy, taking Italian lessons and exploring the countryside. She is carefree and artless, and falls head over heels with a dashing young aristocrat Harry Grenville.
Years later, we see her as a married mother of three, living in London. She is different from the young woman we encounter earlier.
The Fry sisters, Cecelia, Jessie and Etta, are coming of age in the pre-war London. They all have their dreams and hopes.
Celie is studying German and hopes to become a teacher one day. Her tutor, Max Fischer, believes she needs to have more confidence in herself. "With a mind like yours, you could be anything if you were a man. Become a professor, or a lawyer like I shall". The language lessons have brought them together.
Cecelia's mother thinks her studying German is a total waste to time. She should be perfecting her "piano playing or needlework to become a good wife". The father of the family, Gerald Fry, loves his daughters unconditionally and supports them all.
Mr Fry owns a photo studio, and Celie helps him to run it. She is aware of the lack of affection from her mother. "I feel like I'm a disappointment to her, and I don't know why. Sometimes I catch her looking at me like I've done something awfully wrong, and I have no idea what it is".
The Women's Suffrage is the cause Celie feels strongly about. She attends meetings and helps organise rallies around London and beyond.
When the war begins, the age of innocence comes to an end. Celia's love, Max, has to do the military service in Germany. All of a sudden their future seems to be doomed. They are on the opposite sides of the conflict.
Jessie is training as a nurse, while Etta is free to pursue her artistic studies. Jessie and Etta are quite stubborn, rash and ego-centric, in their own way.
While Jessie might have chosen a caring profession, she does it more out of ambition to see the world and not be confined to the role of the obedient wife and mother of the family.
As she later explains her choices to Dr Khalid, "I became an army nurse in order to travel and see the world. It was a means to an end. There aren't many opportunities for an adventurous life open to a woman. I've subsequently found myself to be rather good at nursing, particularly the surgical work".
She is a talented nurse, and according to the Matron of the hospital, "she has a rare combination of compassion, organisation and aptitude for the more challenging aspects of nursing". Despite her mother's objections, Jessie becomes an army nurse. The adventures she craved become a horrifying reality, when she is posted to Gallipoli and Egypt.
Etta's bohemian aspirations bring her into the close circles of the Bloomsbury group. She meets Vanessa Bell, her sister Virginia Wolf, and others. They are intellectual, creative, witty and free with their sexual favours.
Etta falls in love with an Italian artist, Carlo Marinetti, and elopes with him to Italy. She is expecting a baby, and writes deceptive letters to her family in London about their marriage.
Each sister undertakes a personal journey of self-discovery. Their mother Christina is anxious that her daughters do not repeat the mistakes of her youth. There are secrets she's been keeping from her family.
"Gerald is a good man. He has provided well for her and the grils. She'd done the right thing marrying him. She wishes only that she could... love him a little more... Her life is entirely satisfactory, though it is far from the life she'd imagined that summer in Capri when the world was full of possibilities. When she was young and carefree and happy".
Christina seems to be unable to let the past go. It has affected her so much that her whole personality has changed. She is distant and aloof, and can't bring herself to love her firstborn, or her devoted husband.
There is a certain Chekhovian theme, of a conflict between illusions, dreams and reality, which could be traced through the storylines of all Fry women (mother and daughters). All the Fry ladies are educated and refined, but unlike the Chekhov's Three Sisters, Cecelia, Jessie and Etta are able to change their lives.
The portrayal of the war is unflinching and moving. Christina tells Gerald, "It's like a game of Noughts and Crosse to me. Politicians and generals playing games with the lives of young men, and now young women like our Jessica, from the safety of their offices".
Set against the catastrophic and poignant historical backdrop, Love in a Time of War is a captivating exploration of the spirit of the women forging new lives during and after the WWI. Immersive and moving.
In the Acknowledgments, the author talks about her grandmother and other family members who became an inspiration for the characters of the Fry sisters. Adrienne Chinn says, she is proud to come from a stock of independent, self-reliant women.
This book is the first of the three in the family saga. I would love to find out how the three Fry sisters' stories will develop further.
Purchase Links
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Love-Time-War-sweeping-historical-ebook/dp/B09B6HXHR5
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Love-Time-War-sweeping-historical/dp/0008501602
https://www.amazon.com/Love-Time-War-sweeping-historical-ebook/dp/B09B6HXHR5
This post is part of the blog tour for Love in a Time of War.
Many thanks to Adrienne Chinn, NetGalley and Rachel's Random Resources for my e-copy of the book!
Author Bio –
Adrienne Chinn was born in Grand Falls, Newfoundland, grew up in Quebec, and eventually made her way to London, England after a career as a journalist. In England she worked as a TV and film researcher before embarking on a career as an interior designer, lecturer, and writer. When not up a ladder or at the computer writing, she often can be found rummaging through flea markets or haggling in the Marrakech souk. Her second novel, The English Wife -- a timeslip story set in World War II England and contemporary Newfoundland -- was published in June 2020 and has become an international bestseller. Her debut novel, The Lost Letter from Morocco, was published by Avon Books UK in 2019. Her latest novel, Love in a Time of War, set during WWI, is the first in a series of three books based around the changing lives of three English sisters and their half-Italian mother, with a timeslip to 1890s Capri and London.
Social Media Links –
https://www.adrienne-chinn.co.uk/love-in-a-time-of-war/
https://www.facebook.com/adriennechinnauthor
https://twitter.com/adriennechinn
https://www.instagram.com/adriennechinn/
P.S. You might have spotted chocolate cannoli in my photo, you would have to read the book to understand their significance. I went to the local Italian cafe Aqua Salata to buy them. "You haven't had cannoli? You're in for a treat. They're crispy pieces of heaven filled with dollops of sweetened cream as light as angels' clouds".
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