Love in a Time of War: The best new sweeping, escapist historical fiction book release of the year!: Book 1 (The Three Fry Sisters)

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The one similar thing that binds them together is their deep and undying love for the men in their lives. The author uses the three sisters to demonstrate the impact the war had on the women through both love and loss. I do this 6 days a week if I’m not teaching (I teach interior design twice a week in London during term time). I loved the way the story was told through the different characters as the war progressed and from different places.

Set just before, during and after the Great War in various locations in Europe, Love In A Time of War is an enchanting story mainly about three sisters and their parents as well as many other characters. Some of the horrors of war are mentioned (and war is a key component) but the focus is more on the characters on their choices. Cecelia shares her father's interest in photography but is in love with her teacher, a German, to the horror of her mother. Love in a Time of War’ by Adrienne Chinn is the story of three sisters during wartime, how the inconveniences of war can shatter dreams and promises, disguise lies, hide secrets and offer opportunities previously unimagined.Celie helps her father in his photography studio, and he’s busy taking portraits of young men going off to fight in, The Great War. Jessie, a fraternal twin with Etta, is stubborn and strong-willed, and, wishing to explore the world, joins up as an army nurse which brings her to Egypt. Being more generous, perhaps her actions are driven by a genuine desire to prevent her daughters making the same unwise decisions that she did in allowing her heart to rule her head.

My mother’s family lost two young men — my great-uncles John and Alphonsus Edwards — in battles during WWI, and my own grandfather, Thomas Chinn, was gassed with mustard gas and suffered a shrapnel wound which would eventually kill him in 1949. Eighteen-year old Jessie is studying at nursing school and has been offered an amazing opportunity of which her mother disapproves. If you want to read a story about a family and their journey to overcome adversity, you need to read Love in a Time of War. I loved these characters because their personalities and view of their stories captures you and appears so realistic when they tell their stories of the emotions and feelings during that timeframe.You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice. Amateur artist Etta is the most playful and falls in love with flamboyant Italian Carlo and elopes with him to Capri. Indeed at one point, when a family connection is discovered between two strangers, one of them remarks, ‘Small world, isn’t it?

Inspired by her own grandmother, Edith Adele Fry and her two great aunts, Jessie and Ettie, this book is a nod to the spirit of all the women who found themselves forging new lives during and after the war.The war enables her to pursue it further and she enlists with the Queen Alexandra Imperial Military Nursing Service. When he goes off to war, promising to come back for her, she busies herself in her father’s photography studio and fights off the pursuits of Frank Jeffries. I was first introduced to the writing of Adrienne Chinn when I read The English Wife in 2020 and I remarked then on the author’s ability to enable the reader to navigate multiple timelines. Haunting, atmospheric and enjoyable, Adrienne Chinn’s Love in a Time of War is an unforgettable historical novel I highly recommend. As might be expected from the first instalment in a trilogy, Love in a Time of War ends at significant moments in the lives of the sisters.

So it does jump around a bit, skipping back to the mother’s timeline which at times upsets the flow of the story. I hope there is a book two so I can follow the girls on the next section of their lives, especially Celia and Frank in Canada and Jesse and Aziz in Egypt. Love in a Time of War provides an excellent contrast between the three sisters and their experiences leading up to and during World War I. Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and author for the opportunity to read this book for my honest review.

The Fry sisters, Cecilia, Jessie and Etta live at Clover Bar in 1913, with their father Gerald and mother Christina. The three sisters choose completely contrasting paths in life and their stories are followed as war is declared and the family separates.