Summer 1918. The First World War is drawing to a close when Leon Le Gall, a French teenager from Cherbourg who has dropped out of school and left home, falls in love with Louise Janvier. Both are severely wounded by German artillery fire, are separated, and believe each other to be dead.

'A beautiful love story.' 'It's a great love story told with great humour... along the lines of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, Atonement and The Postmistress.' 'Swiss author Capus is an apt storyteller... On its surface, this is a story about enduring love. But it is also about the way that power can be abused... and the daily sacrifices people make to preserve what they hold most dear.' 'Capus' leads are riveting, credible creations -- he sensible and correct, she feisty and headstrong. We root for them, especially when war takes over and threatens to sunder them for good... This love-conquers-all tale could easily have been trite and saccharine, but instead Capus' fusion of gripping drama and believable characters renders Leon and Louise both powerful and poignant.' '[G]em of a novel...' '[W]insome bonbon of a novel in which "The End" feels like an unexpected and unfairly realistic awakening.' 'A perfectly plotted love story, which never becomes over saccharine.'