The Warm Hands of Ghosts
A Novel
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- $13.99
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • During the Great War, a combat nurse searches for her brother, believed dead in the trenches despite eerie signs that suggest otherwise, in this hauntingly beautiful historical novel with a speculative twist, from the author of The Bear and the Nightingale.
“A wonderful clash of fire and ice—a book you won’t want to let go of.”—Diana Gabaldon, author of Outlander
“Spectacular—a tour de force, wonderful and deep and haunting.”—Naomi Novik, author of A Deadly Education
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.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
History and fantasy mix in this World War I tale. After recovering from her own battlefield injuries, Canadian combat nurse Laura Iven returns to Belgium to search for her brother, Freddie, who went missing in combat and was declared dead. When she consults with some women who claim to be mediums, Laura gets a spiritual message that rocks her world. Author Katherine Arden kept us fascinated with dual timelines that tease out Laura’s and Freddie’s stories. With historical accuracy and supernatural turns, The Warm Hands of Ghosts captures the deprivation, rage, and madness of war, and also the human capacity for love and hope.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Arden (The Bear and the Nightingale) blends a meticulously researched WWI epic, an eloquent family saga, and a touch of the supernatural in this breathtaking historical fantasy. Nurse Laura Iven returns home to Halifax, Nova Scotia, after being wounded on the Western Front and honorably discharged from the medical corps. When she learns in early 1918 that her soldier brother Freddie—her last living family member—is missing and presumed dead, she's overwhelmed with questions, so she volunteers to return to Belgium, where she'll work at a private hospital and seek answers in her limited spare time. The narrative shifts between Laura's perspective and Freddie's own, a year prior, as he falls in with a mysterious and potentially mystical new friend, adding captivating depth and tension to an already intriguing premise. Arden's carefully constructed plot makes each unexpected twist feel as inevitable as it is shocking. Through resonant prose, she literalizes the apocalyptic qualities of WWI while dwelling in moral complexity and delivering vibrant, fully fleshed-out characters. The interwoven supernatural elements lend the historical details greater weight. The result is a powerful page-turner.
Customer Reviews
A hauntingly beautiful historical fiction!
Katherine Arden
The Warm Hands of Ghosts
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This book had me happy, sad, mad, worried, scared! All of it! I have never read a historical fiction like this! Well done.
About: During the Great War, a combat nurse searches for her brother, believed dead in the trenches despite eerie signs that suggest otherwise.
Favorite Character: Winter! He just gets it. He’s so loyal and kind, I just adore him and feel like I know him.
What I loved: I already love historical fiction, but this book had such an eerie touch to it that was so symbolically beautiful! It was terrifyingly heartbreaking! I will be thinking about this book for a while.
What I disliked: The ending made me sad even though I understood, I guess I just wish it ended a little differently, but it wasn’t a bad ending. I just selfishly wanted it my way.
The entire time reading it I was thinking about re-reading it! This one will definitely make you think and feel it all!
Thank you,
Katherine Arden, Random House Publishing Group and NetGalley for this ARC copy