This story begins with the Christmas Truce of 1914, when all along the Western Front of WWI, soldiers on both sides laid down their arms and fraternized in “No Man’s Land” in between the trenches of the Allies and the Axis.
During this truce, Henry “Hal” Montgomery, a 23-year-old second lieutenant in the British Army, was given a photo by a German soldier of similar rank, Wilhelm Wetzlar. Wilhelm asked Hal to deliver the photo to his fiancé, known as Sam, back in England. He knew his own mail wouldn’t get through, and wanted Sam to know he was alive and thinking of her.
A short time later Hal suffered a groin injury and was permanently removed from the front. He got reassigned to intelligence work coincidentally close to where Sam lived. When Hal went to give the photo to Sam he decided he wanted her for himself; he neglected to tell her he met her fiancé and proceeded to try and take her away from him. He also discovered what Wilhelm himself did not know, that Sam and Wilhelm had a baby. Hal, impotent from his injuries, also wanted this baby for his own.
Over the war years, Hal stayed with Sam and convinced her to love him in return. The boy “Will” came to love Hal as well. But when the war ended, Hal was afraid Wilhelm might still be alive. …
Evaluation: I notice that other reviewers liked this book a great deal. I did not. I loathed Hal for his betrayal, his lust, and his deceitful manipulation. Sam had some despicable traits as well. Ironically, only Wilhelm comes off well in this novel, but he is mostly a missing presence. It was difficult for me to like a book in which I couldn’t stand the main characters. But I do want to emphasize that I may be alone in this opinion.
Rating: 2/5
Published by Nan A. Talese, 2009
Rhapsody in Books Weblog 
I’ve seen mixed reviews of this one. Sounds like an interesting story, though. It’s on my shelf, and I’ll be reading it soon. Thanks for the honest review.
I appreciate your thoughts on this. I haven’t read it yet but like you I have a hard time connecting to a book when I don’t like any of the characters. I think it’s important to have someone you can get behind and when I can’t, it’s hard to care about the book.
I’m sorry to see this one’s a stinker since it’s in my TBR pile.
It sounds like a great plot.. too bad that Hal was such a creep. Your review makes me want to read just so I can hate him along with you. 🙂
Well, in fact, I only kept reading it because I thought the author would have Hal see what a jerk he was and change!
I’m sorry this one doesn’t seem to hit the mark. The premise sounds good. I do have it on the paging list at the library.
I agree with you on the character issue. I don’t like people in real life who lack integrity. I sure don’t want to waste my valuable reading time with them.
I was on the fence after the first review I read on this one–I think I just fell off!
I’ve read and reviewed books that I didn’t like and found out afterwards I was in the minority but oh well..you can’t like something that you don’t like! (That was kind of a bad sentence.)
This does sound like a book with unlikable characters!
I only read your evaluation since like many other commenters, I also have this in the TBR pile. Too bad about this, it sounded so promising.
I like your review. The book is not on my TBR put it is the type that easily could be, and still may be. Not all books turn out to be the treat we had hoped for… the hidden treasure within the pages while for some may be gold… for others, is not.
I always love the different opinions in books as that makes for great discussion. I love it in my book club….
I had the same experience with Jane Eyre which for the most part the population loves…. me? Not so much.
Enjoyed the review. 🙂