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Published Sep 2015
528 pages
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publication Information
For fans of Atonement, Birdsong, and Downton Abbey, the first of three novels about a privileged British family enduring the trials of World War I, from New York Times bestselling author Kate Williams.
In the idyllic early summer of 1914, life is good for the de Witt family. Rudolf and Verena are planning the wedding of their daughter Emmeline, while their eldest son, Arthur, is studying in Paris, and Michael is just back from his first term at Cambridge. Celia, the youngest of the de Witt children, is on the brink of adulthood and secretly dreams of escaping her carefully mapped-out future and exploring the world.
But the onslaught of war changes everything and soon the de Witts find themselves sidelined and in danger of losing everything they hold dear. As Celia struggles to make sense of the changing world around her, she lies about her age to join the war effort and finds herself embroiled in a complex plot that puts not only herself but those she loves in danger.
With gripping detail and brilliant empathy, Kate Williams tells the story of Celia and her family as they are shunned by a society that previously embraced them, torn apart by sorrow, and buffeted and changed by the storms of war.
"Starred Review. Quietly impressive. It echoes of classic novels (Atonement, Brideshead Revisited). Hard to put down. A new perspective on an old war. Gripping, thoughtful, heartbreaking, and, above all, human." - Kirkus
"Touching on topics as wide ranging as the horrors of trench warfare, battlefield hospitals, women-volunteer ambulance drivers, women's suffrage, and blatant discrimination, this detailed, descriptive novel brings an era to life." - Booklist
"Instead of delivering their expected payout, several high-stakes situations fizzle out in the novel's second half, resulting in a disappointing ending unlikely to satisfy readers or to leave them hungry for the planned sequel." - Library Journal
"Shades of Downton, with a dash of Atonement." Tatler
"The new novel by the historian Kate Williams, is an epic story about a young woman whose idyllic world is shattered by the First World War." - The Sunday Telegraph
"A big juicy drama set on the eve of the First World War. Kate Williams paints a spellbinding portrait of a family clinging on desperately to their privileged way of life." - Good Housekeeping UK
"Kate Williams in a vivid writer, conjuring atmosphere through scents and tastes as well as period props." - The Times Literary Supplement
"Williams keeps her story moving and the result is a vivid portrait of a perennially fascinating period of history." - The Observer
"This terrific saga comes with a fascinating twist. Williams has a gift for showing how great movements in history affect the lives of people caught up in them." - The Times (London)
This information about The Storms of War was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Kate Williams is the author of the New York Times bestselling Becoming Queen Victoria, the royal story of Victoria that inspired the Academy Award-winning film, "Young Victoria," starring Emily Blunt and Rupert Friend as Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. She is also the author of Ambition and Desire, a biography of Josephine Bonparte. Kate is CNN's special correspondent and their in-house expert on royalty and British history, as well as broadcasting on other channels. She lives in London.
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