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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In the Acknowledgments, the author talks about her grandmother and other family members who became an inspiration for the characters of the Fry sisters. She appears almost puritanical in that respect, indeed one might say hyprocritical given what the reader learns about her early life. Jessie enlists in the army as a nurse and finally finds the adventure she’s craved when she’s sent to Gallipoli and Egypt, but it comes with an unimaginable cost. My grandmother, Edith Adelaide Fry Chinn, emigrated to Alberta, Canada with her British Army veteran husband and her two very small children in 1922 and never saw her English family again. I needed to know if Celie was really happy with her decision (my guess is no), is Jessie will survive her mother-in-law and if Etta is still suffering from mental issues and so much more!

Amongst these were photographs of my great-aunts Jessie and Ettie Chinn — Jessie who became a milliner was creative and engaged to a young German student who was killed during the war; Ettie joined the Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Nursing Service and served on a hospital ship at Gallipoli and in Egypt during the war. Even Jessie, who was my favourite character, eventually embarks on a relationship with a man who for many reasons would probably not be welcomed with open arms in the Fry household. The author uses the three sisters to demonstrate the impact the war had on the women through both love and loss.The three sisters choose completely contrasting paths in life and their stories are followed as war is declared and the family separates. Etta elopes to Capri with her Italian love, Carlo, but though her growing bump is real, her marriage certificate is a lie.

I began “The Lost Letter from Morocco” on that course, loosely inspired by my experiences in Morocco. They are from a middle-class family in south London, with a father who runs a photography studio and an Anglo-Italian mother whom we learn more about in flashbacks to Capri in 1891-2, and who, we discover, hides a secret that she is determined will never be revealed. He was so clear in his teaching of the fundamentals of novel writing, and I really saw an improvement in my fiction writing. She does not intend to marry (in fact, nurses then were forbidden to marry) but to enjoy her nursing career and travel. 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.This book follows these very different sisters through a time of great change - women were now able to leave home alone, travel overseas without a chaperone or take on roles and positions traditionally held by men. Amateur artist Etta is the most playful and falls in love with flamboyant Italian Carlo and elopes with him to Capri. Love in a Time of War” by Adrienne Chinn, new author to this reader was a captivating and wonderful read.