It’s 1917, and World War I is at its zenith when Hazel and James first catch sight of each other at a London party. She’s a shy and talented pianist; he’s a newly minted soldier with dreams of becoming an architect. When they fall in love, it’s immediate and deep–and cut short when James is shipped off to the killing fields.

Aubrey Edwards is also headed toward the trenches. A gifted musician who’s played Carnegie Hall, he’s a member of the 15th New York Infantry, an all-African-American regiment being sent to Europe to help end the Great War. Love is the last thing on his mind. But that’s before he meets Colette Fournier, a Belgian chanteuse who’s already survived unspeakable tragedy at the hands of the Germans.

Thirty years after these four lovers’ fates collide, the Greek goddess Aphrodite tells their stories to her husband, Hephaestus, and her lover, Ares, in a luxe Manhattan hotel room at the height of World War II. She seeks to answer the age-old question: Why are Love and War eternally drawn to one another? But her quest for a conclusion that will satisfy her jealous husband uncovers a multi-threaded tale of prejudice, trauma, and music and reveals that War is no match for the power of Love.

From the first time I heard about this book, I knew I was going to adore it.

I’ve been super into Greek mythology since 2nd grade, and I will jump on anything even remotely adjacent to that interest. Thus, the frame narrative of Aphrodite telling this story that had happened almost two decades previously as her courtroom defense of her affair with Ares to Hephaestus was already very intriguing to me.

The writing is absolutely gorgeous!

This was the first time I’ve ever tabbed a book for fun, and I’m so glad I did because there were so many beautiful quotes in it! The prose throughout was absolutely lovely, verging almost upon verse in some areas.

The protagonists are all lovable and wonderful.

I loved Aphrodite a surprisingly large amount. Berry made her into a sympathetic character that I’ve never seen her depicted as in any of the myriad adaptations of Greek mythology I’ve consumed. Aphrodite is a goddess who loves her work bringing love to mortals, but has never actually been loved as herself.

The other gods are all super interesting to read too. The ones that make appearances are Ares, Hephaestus, Apollo, and Hades, and they are all very distinctive and true to their realms without veering too far into inhuman characterization.

Hazel is my absolute favorite. She’s a pianist who falls in love with James against her better judgement, and decides to volunteer in the war as much as she can while he is fighting in it. She is shy and ordinary and doing her best to help in the war in whatever way that she can.

James probably has the least personality of the four protagonists, but I still really liked him. His storyline mostly centers around the horrors he faces on the front, despite never having wanted to be there.

Colette’s is the saddest story. She is the only one of her family who survived the German invasion of Belgium, which obviously brings with it a ton of emotional baggage. She has already lost everybody who has ever been important to her in this war, and isn’t sure if she can survive any more.

Aubrey is simultaneously dealing with racism from white soldiers and with the same horrors of war that James is facing. These two’s overlapping storylines are especially interesting when James is drowning in fear on the front while Aubrey is fighting just to get to that point, rather than having to do the menial work that African American troops were limited to up to that point. He’s also extraordinarily talented jazz musician, which is what leads him to connect with Hazel and Colette.

Speaking of Aubrey’s piano talents, this is just such a musical book!

Of the four protagonists, three are musicians: Hazel and Aubrey are pianists, and Colette’s a singer. James isn’t completely without artistic talent (he wants to be an architect), but he’s not a part of any of the amazing musical scenes in the books, of which there are a surprisingly large number. It’s at the heart of both relationships; James meets Hazel while she’s performing piano at a dance, and Aubrey meets Colette after meeting Hazel through their music.

“‘You’re a brand new piece of sheet music,’ she said slowly, ‘for a song which, once played, I’d swear I’d always known.”

In many respects, the book feels like a love letter to jazz. Aubrey (and later Colette’s) jazz music is the focus of many scenes, and the aspects that Berry focuses on- the remixing of known phrases and choruses- feels in many ways like what she is doing with the story of Aphrodite, Hephaestus, and Ares and her World War I narrative.

“She watched in fascination as he played. The fluidity of his style puzzled her. He looped through phrases and refrains. It was as if he understood how the music was built and could build it again, recreating it differently if he wished. Not playing it, but playing with it.”

“Apollo, you remember what this felt like, for musicians first experiencing the baptism of fire that was jazz. Ragtime seized Colette. Her mind fizzed, her hips swayed. Gone were the old swoony, melodramatic refrains and hackneyed, chirpy tunes. This was oil lamps becoming electric lights. It was dynamite. Voodoo. Sorcery”

The individual romances are so sweet, and you can’t help but pray that they’ll turn out okay in the end.

Love is really at the heart of this book, and the romances do not disappoint. All of the relationships involved feel distinctive and unique from each other. While Hazel and James essentially fall in love within a week of meeting, Colette and Aubrey proceed much more cautiously, largely due to the trauma in Colette’s past. Aphrodite’s relationships with Ares and Hephaestus are less prominent, but no less complex.

The interwoven narratives worked very well.

The two main love stories felt very interlocked with each other, rather than being just two separate narratives, which can sometimes happen with these sorts of books. Though James and Aubrey only really interact in one scene in the entire book, Hazel and Collette’s close friendship allows for the two relationships to impact each other, and for the reader to see how the story ties together.

It’s sad without being depressing.

Lovely War doesn’t attempt to gloss over the horrors of that the protagonists are facing, but it doesn’t exist to make people sad after reading it. It is grim and upfront about what the characters are facing in the war, but those aspects are not the point of the story. Though there are definitely tragic aspects to the story, as can be expected from any wartime book, its themes about love being more powerful than war definitely shine through in the balance between the scenes of tragedy and hope within the narrative.

It also isn’t overly gory, which I appreciated because I really cannot handle any significantly graphic descriptions of blood or other injuries without feeling nauseous. Lovely War is set during World War I, so it obviously has violence in it, but it isn’t described in any overly detailed way, which made it a much more enjoyable experience for me than it could have been.

Overall, I loved Lovely War!

The frame narrative revolving around Aphrodite telling the stories of the protagonists as a defense for her actions in her affair with Ares was unique and compelling, and the central story was expertly crafted. Although the four main characters all have very different experiences in World War I, their narratives blend together wonderfully. The relationships between Hazel and James, Colette and Aubrey, and even between Aphrodite and Hephaestus are all believable and enthralling. It is a beautifully written book, which is hopeful without being dismissive of the horror and sacrifice involved in war, and the prose is elegant and gorgeous. I give Lovely War 5/5 stars.