BOOK REVIEW: Gifts Of War

Gifts Of War by Mackenzie Ford is a love story that begins during the Christmas Truce of 1914. A German gives a British soldier a picture and an agreement is struck. Hal, the British soldier promises to find his enemies English girlfriend, Sam, and to let her know her fiancé is alive and thinking of her. When Hal suffers an injury to his pelvis and is discharged, he goes to Stratford-upon-Avon to deliver the photograph. However, he finds himself falling in love with Sam. When Sam shares her secret, that her son is German and that this could ruin her reputation and cause her to lose her job as a schoolteacher, Hal holds tight to his secret.

Hal and Sam’s love affair is set among the bristling energy and change occurring while England is at war. The fates of men and women caught up in the war are expertly depicted. Hal also does his best to expose Sam to as much of England as the war will allow. His newfound job as an intelligence officer lends drama and suspense to the tale.

Gifts Of War is supremely readable, fast paced, full of the rifts and make-ups of family, and puts its finger on the pulse of The War. The tragic final paragraphs will ensure that this story lingers long after the final page. I give it a big thumbs up and proclaim that this book is one that should not be missed.