I was a British history major and I spent a lot of time and energy reading about war (thanks, senior thesis and my love of deep dive research), and I can say that this is an accurate and heart wrenching portrayal of what World War I was actually like. The book covers each of the years of World War I, starting with the boys’ enlisting in 1914, when they thought they would get home by Christmas.įor those that know history, you know that this is ultimately very (very) optimistic, and we live through World War I, as told in the letters between these folks and others in their lives. This is an epistolary novel told among friends living through World War I: Evelyn, a young and passionate British girl her elder brother, Will, who left Oxford to go to the front in 1914 Will’s best friend, Tom, who is basically part of the family and Alice, Evelyn’s impetuous friend. Wow, was I wrong! In the best way possible. Honestly, when I saw the title and the cover, I thought this was just going to be a sentimental Christmas read (I read it for the Books and Marg book club, not of my own volition). Trigger Warnings: war, death, bombings, mustard gas, schmaltz With failing health, Thomas returns to Paris-a cherished packet of letters in hand-determined to lay to rest the ghosts of his past. Can love flourish amid the horror of the First World War, or will fate intervene?Ĭhristmas 1968. Frustrated by life as a privileged young lady, Evie longs to play a greater part in the conflict-but how?-and as Thomas struggles with the unimaginable realities of war he also faces personal battles back home where War Office regulations on press reporting cause trouble at his father’s newspaper business. Through their letters, Evie and Thomas share their greatest hopes and fears-and grow ever fonder from afar. As Evie Elliott watches her brother, Will, and his best friend, Thomas Harding, depart for the front, she believes-as everyone does-that it will be over by Christmas, when the trio plan to celebrate the holiday among the romantic cafes of Paris.īut as history tells us, it all happened so differently…Įvie and Thomas experience a very different war. “Last Christmas in Paris” by Hazel Gaynor & Heather Webb
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