Katherine Arden is a master of atmosphere, and she has spared no hellish, haunting detail in writing the realities of WWI in The Warm Hands of Ghosts. As a work of historical fiction, it is excellent. If readers are hesitant about the supernatural themes of the book, I would say those elements are subdued and only require a bit of imagination and basic suspension of disbelief, versus an investment in complicated world-building.
The synopsis:
January 1918. Laura Iven was a revered field nurse until she was wounded and discharged from the medical corps, leaving behind a brother still fighting in Flanders. Now home in Halifax, Canada, Laura receives word of Freddie’s death in combat, along with his personal effects—but something doesn’t make sense. Determined to uncover the truth, Laura returns to Belgium as a volunteer at a private hospital, where she soon hears whispers about haunted trenches and a strange hotelier whose wine gives soldiers the gift of oblivion. Could Freddie have escaped the battlefield, only to fall prey to something—or someone—else?
November 1917. Freddie Iven awakens after an explosion to find himself trapped in an overturned pillbox with a wounded enemy soldier, a German by the name of Hans Winter. Against all odds, the two form an alliance and succeed in clawing their way out. Unable to bear the thought of returning to the killing fields, especially on opposite sides, they take refuge with a mysterious man who seems to have the power to make the hellscape of the trenches disappear.
As shells rain down on Flanders and ghosts move among those yet living, Laura’s and Freddie’s deepest traumas are reawakened. Now they must decide whether their world is worth salvaging—or better left behind entirely.
The Warm Hands of Ghosts is incredibly earnest, which makes sense since it’s set on the battlefields of WWI. This might be why it was just shy of a 5-star read for me; the book becomes stifling with the weight of its characters’ realities, getting heavier the more you think about the questions it raises. Do our failings always haunt us, or can they help us, too? Who are we without our memories, even the ones we’d rather forget? What makes a person good? What makes a person bad? What makes a person worthy of love? Can there be peace in oblivion? And so on.
The writing was excellent, the story compelling; I wanted just a bit more air to breathe on the journey. But I enjoyed the book and would definitely recommend it.
BOOK:30 