I was looking forward to the arrival of this book. I liked the idea of the two main characters coming together under the pressures of war and watching this relationship change and develop into more modern times. Several sections of the book were set in my local area which I hoped would engage me further. However felt the character development fell flat. The author goes to great lengths to explain the surroundings, maybe at certain points providing too much detail. However I don't feel that you get to know the characters personalities to engage with them fully. The storyline felt extremely dragged out and not worthy of the large word count. Maybe the chopping and changing of environments and timelines didn't help with this, however I have read books previously that manage to do this without loosing engagement. Overall not a book for me which was disappointing.