Lovely War- Julie Berry

A timid English pianist, a soldier with a heart for architecture, a Belgian singer weighed down by inconceivable loss, and a charismatic jazz player fighting with an all African-American regiment. These four young souls are destined to meet during WWI and find themselves drawn to one another by the enticing, seductive, and healing power of music. It is the great goddess, Aphrodite, who recounts their stories amongst a group of gods in the interest of avoiding judgment on Mount Olympus for crimes of infidelity against her husband. She seeks to exonerate herself, with the aid of fellow immortals, by proving to her husband the enduring power of love amongst humans.

Is all fair in love and war?

A WWI historical fiction meets Greek mythology meets a courtroom drama meets romance. What remarkable mind would have ever thought to marry these genres? Julie Berry, that’s who. And she did so brilliantly in this multilayered novel.

Berry covers difficult topics from the infinite hardships of wartime, the racial discrimination and injustices against black soldiers bestowed by their fellow American troops, and scars both visible and unseeable with an impossible eloquence. 

Lovely War has me questioning if I, myself, am still alive and not with Hades in ——-. Surely this book can’t truly exist. I found myself being constantly pummeled by giant waves of emotion for these characters. One moment, my eyes were glistening with tears,  the next I was gripping the pages with frustration.  

Further still, I often found myself acutely aware of the goofy, starry-eyed expressions on my face and my blushing cheeks as I witnessed these young hearts in love. 

It was utterly brilliant and intoxicating to tell this story through the eyes of some well-known Greek gods, each with their own personalities that oftentimes offered a humorous reprieve. 

Being a story I imagine will appeal to a wide audience, I will smirk an all-knowing Aphrodite smile the next time someone asks, “Hey, what’s a book you think I’d like?”