The Winter Soldier by Daniel Mason

At it should be with all novels set in WWI, this one is full death and agony. It also has a heaping tablespoon of terrible luck. Just about everything goes wrong for Lucius, the young medical student at the center of this historical novel set during World War I. The scion of a wealthy family in Vienna, Lucius has disappointed his ambitious mother and his patriotic father by pursuing such a lowly career as medicine. When the war break out, they’re relieved that their son may finally have a chance to distinguish himself in the glories of battle. Lucius thwarts their best laid plans though, finding a hospital in a god forsaken place that is more like a dungeon than a house of healing, and he also finds a nurse who haunts him for years to come. The bleakness of the war is steeped in every chapter in an unrelenting way, and it is a quiet homage to those who put people back together rather than tear them apart. I am reminded of the recent pandemic, where health care workers put themselves in harms way and even died taking care of the sick. It is an homage, as well as a story of where you can find love in the strangest of places if you look at it right.