In Memoriam

WINNER OF WATERSTONES NOVEL OF THE YEAR AWARD
A TOP FIVE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER
WINNER OF THE BRITISH BOOK AWARDS DEBUT OF THE YEAR

‘If you haven’t read it, you’re missing out’ Bonnie Garmus, bestselling author of LESSONS IN CHEMISTRY

'One of the best debuts I've read in recent years . . . please rush out and buy it' ELIZABETH DAY
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In 1914, war feels far away to Henry Gaunt and Sidney Ellwood. They're too young to enlist, and anyway, Gaunt is fighting his own private battle - an all-consuming infatuation with the dreamy, poetic Ellwood - not having a clue that his best friend is in love with him too.

When Gaunt's mother asks him to enlist, he signs up immediately, relieved to escape his overwhelming feelings. But Ellwood and their classmates soon follow him to the front. Ellwood and Gaunt find love in the trenches – but just as war brought them together, it can tear them apart…

An epic, unforgettable love story between two soldiers in the First World War, In Memoriam is a breath-taking debut.
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'A genuine page-turner' Sunday Times

'BIRDSONG for a new generation' JOANNA QUINN, author of THE WHALEBONE THEATRE

'I can't remember the last time I was this invested in a love story' Sunday Telegraph

'Assured, affecting and moving' MAGGIE O'FARRELL, author of HAMNET

‘Will smash your heart to smithereens' Daily Mail

THE TOP FIVE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER, March 2023

'A tender, affecting debut . . . Winn strikingly evokes the torment and brutality of life of the front' - The Times

'A vivid rendering of love and frontline brutality in the first world war . . . In Memoriam is at once epic and intimate, humorous and profound, a vivid rendering of the madness and legacy of the first world war as seen through the lens of a schoolboy love affair . . . Acts of revenge, moonlit escapes from POW camps, serendipities just wild enough to be credible - all bound from the page with a clarity best described as cinematic, while even in the direst moments Winn's dialogue thrums with mirth and furious intelligence. Throughout, she artfully switches perspectives and settings, leaving the reader in desperate suspense over fates and fortunes.' - Observer

'In Memoriam is the story of a great tragedy, but it is also a moving portrait of young love, and there is often a lightness to the book, even humor. It's a difficult balancing act, but one that Winn, who is erudite, fast talking and very funny, pulls off . . . Winn was 26 years old when she began it, but 'In Memoriam' doesn't read like its author was still finding her footing as a writer' - New York Times

'Alice Winn's propulsive, visceral and heartrending debut takes an all-too-familiar setting and brilliantly reframes it via a feverish gay love story . . . Winn skillfully uses the school as a microcosm, making us feel the loss of each boy, each friend, each brother . . . but what keeps you turning the page is the tender central romance . . . I can't remember the last time I was this invested in a love story - all the while seeing our darkest history brought wrenchingly to life ' - Sunday Telegraph, 4 stars

'Alice Winn's devastating debut will smash your heart to smithereens . . . as thousands of young men die in the most horrific of ways, Gaunt and Ellwood attempt to survive the slaughter and keep their love alive' - Daily Mail

'First love, class, male camaraderie and the horrors of the war are all explored in this quietly heartbreaking epic with the unforgettable appeal of Birdsong' - Good Housekeeping, A Book of the Month

'Glorious, addictive . . . Winn's prose is percussive . . . I couldn't put it down . . . Winn's exquisite pacing lives in her syntax as much as her plot, giving vim and vigor to every line' - New York Times Book Review

'With accolades from Maggie O'Farrell and Elizabeth Day, In Memoriam is one of those debut novels so accomplished that is has made the literary world sit up and stand to attention . . . In Memoriam is gripping, tender, immersive and, most of all, completely unforgettable' - i, Top Fiction Pick of the Month

'The horrors of life in the trenches are described in stomach-turning details . . . there is an ease to Winn's writing, though, a zippy confidence, unusual for a debut, that allows her to skip across Europe, taking in famous battles, prisoner of war camps and hospitals, and a few trips home to mother to boost . . . [a] genuine page-turner' - Sunday Times

'Winn's accomplished debut presents two indelible characters - athletic Henry Gaunt and lyrical Sidney Ellwood, English boarding school chums who both believe their love for each other is unrequited. Whether they're posturing schoolboys on the cusp of World War I or enduring the visceral shock and horrifying randomness of death in the trenches, Gaunt and Ellwood are unceasingly drawn to each other, each afraid to risk following his heart until it may be too late.' - Washington Post, Noteworthy Books for March

'A Novel of admirable historical heft and - even better - of rare, and resonant, empathy.' - Guardian

'This debut captures an epic love story amid the brutalities of war' - People Magazine

'Alice Winn’s blistering debut is an unforgettable read…A love story set against the tragedies of war, Winn’s rousing writing transports you to the trenches, where an entire generation of lost men are brought to vivid life – the characters will stick with you, long after the final page. ' - Independent Best Summer Books

'Extraordinary. A truly epic tale of love unspoken, love shared and love lost. An instant and unforgettable classic' - A.J. West

'Winn's superb debut chronicles a romance between two English boarding school classmates during WWI . . . both men grapple with the realities of war, which Winn vividly renders with descriptions of the wounded . . . . Amid the chaos, Winn stages excellent action scenes: a tense scouting mission, as well as a tunnel-digging episode involving an escape from a German POW camp. The hunger the men feel, as well as their shell shock, is palpable, but it is the men's love for each other that resonates. This is a remarkable achievement. ' - Publishers Weekly, starred

'Winn's finely accomplished debut novel is a rare thing, an intoxicating romance and an impossible-to-put-down war story in one . . . Winn captures the war as it looked, sounded, and smelled, but the ultimate death-defying acts here are in literature, breathtaking bravery, and love' - Booklist, starred

'Powerful, deeply imagined . . . One of the wonderful aspects of Winn's debut is that, just when you think you've settled into a tender literary novel, its revelations and surprises begin to unfurl at an impressive pace that reads more like a thriller . . . Winn's battle scenes are hair-raising and terrifying, but her portraits of Sidney and Henry are intimate and evocative . . . A love story that's hard to forget' - Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review

'An epic sweep and an incredible intimacy that makes In Memoriam feel vividly alive...this is a book filled with death and suffering, but also with life and longing. War is hell, yes, but somehow love endures. You read it with your heart in your throat, and your knuckles white. The debut of the year. ' - i

'Fast-paced and gripping, this debut brings fresh eyes to bear on the incomprehensible carnage that decimated a generation...a moving elegy for lost youth' - Mail on Sunday

'I'm still recovering from Alice Winn's phenomenal debut novel, and I know that many others will be feeling the same...Winn's characters will go down in literary history' - nb. Magazine

'an impressive blend of madcap action, moving meditations on loss and some spicy sex scenes. ' - The Times

'This is my standout debut of the year: a page-turning, heart-thudding story of love and war that will burrow deep into your psyche. ' - iNews

SPECIFICATIONS:

Author:Alice Winn - Элис Винн

Publisher:Penguin

Language:English

Publication Date:2024

Number of pages:400 pst

Format:Paperback

Width:128 mm / 5'

Height:197 mm / 7,8'

Weight:278 g

ISBN:9780241567838