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LOVELY WAR

Julie Berry

A sweeping, multi-layered romance with a divine twist, as only Julie Berry can write, set in the perilous days of World Wars I and II.
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.
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Published 2019-03-05 by Viking Children's Books

Book

Published 2019-03-05 by Viking Children's Books

Comments

An unforgettable romance so Olympian in scope, human at its core, and lyrical in its prose that it must be divinely inspired.

LOVELY WAR is one of Cosmo's Best YA Books of 2019 Read more...

Fangirl Fury shared a stunning picture and wrote a review saying, "Lovely War is easily one of my favorite books of 2019 and makes me want to pick up historical fiction even more!" Read more...

Julie Berry writes the past as if she lived it.

LOVELY WAR is one of the NYPL's Best Adult Fantasy Books of 2019! Read more...

Readers will be swept away by Berry's lyrical prose.

Fans of Marcus Sedgwick, Lois Lowry and Elizabeth Wein will love this romantic yet unflinching look at teenagers coming of age during World War I.

LOVELY WAR just won a Gold Parent's Choice Award! Read more...

The writing is exquisite, and the characters are well-developed. Overall, this book is just, well, lovely. Read more...

Proves again that Berry is one of our most ambitious writers. Happily for us, that ambition so often results in great success.

Sometimes young adult books seem to fall prey to repetitive formats and cliches. And sometimes a book like Lovely War by Julie Berry comes along and suddenly Greek gods are sitting around a World War II-era hotel room and narrating a story that takes place during the previous world war. Despite all the fantasy, somehow, Berry also manages to construct an honest tale and weave together readers' emotions like the Fates themselves.... Berry's writing produces a unique rhythm as it follows a complex melody, suggesting haunting beauty along the way.

Poignant.will make readers, by turns, laugh, cry, and swoon.

LOVELY WAR won the Golden Kite Award for the Young Adult Fiction Category! The books were chosen by a panel of authors from among thousands of titles submitted to the awards! Read more...

Q & A with Julie Berry Read more...

Portuguese/Brazil: Darkside ; Russian: Eksmo ; Romania: Corint Books ; Ukraine: Ridna Mova

The Baroness of Books listed Character Book Recommendations pairing Aphrodite with Ruta Sepetys' Salt to the sea, Hazel to Rainbow Rowell's Fangirl, Aubrey to Night Music, and many more. Read more...

This book is one of the best reads of the year for me so far! Read more...

The biggest YA releases of the Spring need the best assets and with these stunning asset packs, your social media accounts will be #bookgoals With assets created for all platform specs including Twitter (horizontal), Instagram & Facebook (Square) and Instagram Story (vertical), your followers will be swiping up, liking and hearting for days! Be sure to tag @PenguinTeen on all the relevant social media platforms https://www.instagram.com/julieberrybooks/ https://twitter.com/JulieBerryBooks https://www.facebook.com/julieberrybookspage/ #TheLovelyWar Read more...

Berry's accomplished talent for developing all elements of plot - character, tone, and mood - in addition to her fresh writing style makes this title a compelling page turner.

Words like 'epic,' 'sweeping' and 'romantic' might have been designed with Julie Berry's Lovely War in mind.

Julie Berry pens an utter delight in Lovely War, an effervescent confection of a novel filled with humor, tragedy, romance, and myth. Easily one of the best novels I have read all year!

Emotion-packed. Suggests that while war and its devastation cycles through history, the forces of art and love remain steady, eternal, and life-sustaining.

Reads like a divine mix of Kate Atkinson and Neil Gaiman. ...does Love conquer War? The answer is never in doubt, but it is a pleasure to have it confirmed by a celestially inspired storyteller.

LifeofPages shared a Creative Instagram Picture and wrote a review saying, "Each character was crafted delicately and I enjoyed reading about the passions they held and the journey they went on". Read more...

[A] triumphant piece of historically focused fiction. . . a moving, brutal, and yes, lovely, story of the ways in which people find hope in a world gone mad.