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As the Storm Clouds Gather
In a world full of darkness, can love prevail? An emotionally gripping and heartbreaking WW1 novel.
May, 1915. Nineteen-year-old Isle Marie Stahl experiences tragedy travelling on board the RMS Lusitania with her parents from New York to a new life in England, when the ship is sunk by a German U-boat. Isle survives, but is all alone. She distracts herself from the pain by becoming a nurse tending to the casualties of war on the front line at Ypres.
Meanwhile, young Roland Hawkins is nursing his own grief when his father is caught up in the Black Tom explosion in New York Harbour. Full of anger, he quietly sets off for England and straight to a recruiting station. Soon, he is on the front line himself, determined to get his revenge.
The Belgian battlefields of the Great War will bring Isle and Roland together, though there is no love lost between a wounded soldier and his nurse of German descent. But as the storm clouds grow ever darker, can they find love and comfort in one another?
An utterly compelling, thought-provoking and unflinching novel of two young people drawn together through war and their incredible bond is full of courage, heartbreak, resilience, love and hope that will stay in the memory long after the final page. Perfect for fans of The Tattooist of Auschwitz, The Nightingale and The Midwife of Berlin.
May, 1915. Nineteen-year-old Isle Marie Stahl experiences tragedy travelling on board the RMS Lusitania with her parents from New York to a new life in England, when the ship is sunk by a German U-boat. Isle survives, but is all alone. She distracts herself from the pain by becoming a nurse tending to the casualties of war on the front line at Ypres.
Meanwhile, young Roland Hawkins is nursing his own grief when his father is caught up in the Black Tom explosion in New York Harbour. Full of anger, he quietly sets off for England and straight to a recruiting station. Soon, he is on the front line himself, determined to get his revenge.
The Belgian battlefields of the Great War will bring Isle and Roland together, though there is no love lost between a wounded soldier and his nurse of German descent. But as the storm clouds grow ever darker, can they find love and comfort in one another?
An utterly compelling, thought-provoking and unflinching novel of two young people drawn together through war and their incredible bond is full of courage, heartbreak, resilience, love and hope that will stay in the memory long after the final page. Perfect for fans of The Tattooist of Auschwitz, The Nightingale and The Midwife of Berlin.
264 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 4, 2025
9 people are currently reading
80 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
February 11, 2025
Oh. My. Word! What! a fantastic read! I was riveted from the first page to the last.
This is not an easy read for anyone who is squeamish. Several times I had to put the book down and take a breath. Set in World War I, the author's descriptions of the battles in the trenches and the air are told in every gory detail needed, to get the horrors of the war across to the readers. I was emotionally wrung out. Indignation at the treatment some people endured was high on my list.
Roland and Ilse are the two main characters. They are both from New York but only meet during the war itself. Ilse is of German descent and even though American by birth is treated abominably by the nurses, at the Front, while nursing with the British. The romance between the two is a slow burn with the War taking center stage and the story was the better for it. There's a lot of sadness too as friends and family are lost and life is changed, irrevocably, for ever.
I didn't take to Roland at all and he has the largest part of the story. He was erratic from the beginning and could be quite obnoxious at times. Ilse was a great character and I loved her story throughout.
We also get to see what happens to them after the war and I love that in a story, especially one I've been so invested in.
For me the best part of all was the descriptions of the different historical events that occurred. Woven through the story seamlessly, I learned things I hadn't known before about this conflict and it's always a bonus to me.
At the end of the book, the author adds a few details about the story and I was delighted to discover that some of the characters were based on real people. We get a little added bit of history here.
If you love history, the history of the wars and how ordinary people dealt with it, then this is a must read. I'd give it more stars if I could!
Many thanks to Severn House and NetGalley for an early copy of this book.
This is not an easy read for anyone who is squeamish. Several times I had to put the book down and take a breath. Set in World War I, the author's descriptions of the battles in the trenches and the air are told in every gory detail needed, to get the horrors of the war across to the readers. I was emotionally wrung out. Indignation at the treatment some people endured was high on my list.
Roland and Ilse are the two main characters. They are both from New York but only meet during the war itself. Ilse is of German descent and even though American by birth is treated abominably by the nurses, at the Front, while nursing with the British. The romance between the two is a slow burn with the War taking center stage and the story was the better for it. There's a lot of sadness too as friends and family are lost and life is changed, irrevocably, for ever.
I didn't take to Roland at all and he has the largest part of the story. He was erratic from the beginning and could be quite obnoxious at times. Ilse was a great character and I loved her story throughout.
We also get to see what happens to them after the war and I love that in a story, especially one I've been so invested in.
For me the best part of all was the descriptions of the different historical events that occurred. Woven through the story seamlessly, I learned things I hadn't known before about this conflict and it's always a bonus to me.
At the end of the book, the author adds a few details about the story and I was delighted to discover that some of the characters were based on real people. We get a little added bit of history here.
If you love history, the history of the wars and how ordinary people dealt with it, then this is a must read. I'd give it more stars if I could!
Many thanks to Severn House and NetGalley for an early copy of this book.
January 19, 2025
Sometimes the best books are the hardest to review…
First of all, this book is not for the faint-of-heart reader. For anyone who can withstand a gut-wrenching, brutally honest depiction of what WW1 warfare was like, this one will be an outstanding novel.
The thing about this book that clinched the 5 stars from me was the way the author “climbed” into the two main characters lives and minds. Ilse and Rowland are two young persons who are pulled into the Great War by unexpected personal events in their lives. For Ilse, an American citizen born to immigrant parents, the anti-German sentiment of the early 1900’s sprouting in Manhattan leads them to buy tickets on the ship Luisitania in 1915, which leads to tragedy. For Rowland, the death of his father in the fateful Black Tom Explosion leads him to seek revenge against all members of the country who caused it.
The experiences that Rowland has as an infantryman and a pilot, and Ilse has as a war nurse with a detectable German accent, will ultimately change their hearts, minds and lives forever, as the world is ripped apart by the “war to end all wars”…
Memorable Quotes:
“No war could end all wars. Not with the complicated human race, with their fragile egos and their axes to grind…Germany would rise again. They would reach for their guns. They would go to war. Maybe not in this generation, but soon. The children of today would be the wooden crosses of tomorrow.”
*I received a digital copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are strictly my own.*
First of all, this book is not for the faint-of-heart reader. For anyone who can withstand a gut-wrenching, brutally honest depiction of what WW1 warfare was like, this one will be an outstanding novel.
The thing about this book that clinched the 5 stars from me was the way the author “climbed” into the two main characters lives and minds. Ilse and Rowland are two young persons who are pulled into the Great War by unexpected personal events in their lives. For Ilse, an American citizen born to immigrant parents, the anti-German sentiment of the early 1900’s sprouting in Manhattan leads them to buy tickets on the ship Luisitania in 1915, which leads to tragedy. For Rowland, the death of his father in the fateful Black Tom Explosion leads him to seek revenge against all members of the country who caused it.
The experiences that Rowland has as an infantryman and a pilot, and Ilse has as a war nurse with a detectable German accent, will ultimately change their hearts, minds and lives forever, as the world is ripped apart by the “war to end all wars”…
Memorable Quotes:
“No war could end all wars. Not with the complicated human race, with their fragile egos and their axes to grind…Germany would rise again. They would reach for their guns. They would go to war. Maybe not in this generation, but soon. The children of today would be the wooden crosses of tomorrow.”
*I received a digital copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are strictly my own.*
December 26, 2025
Such a gripping and emotional book about WWI. I learned so much about the war and its impact.
November 19, 2024
Just wow! This book had me completely hooked from the first chapter. It was so emotional and full of fear, anger, courage, hope and love. The Great War was absolutely brutal and this story portrays this really well, it’s detailed and informative and totally heartbreaking. I really enjoyed this book, it was a hard one to put down as once I was sucked into the story I couldn’t get out until I had finished the book. I highly recommend this beautifully written book, five fabulous stars from me!
January 5, 2025
This book tells another gripping story of the suffering endured by soldiers in the First World War and the efforts of women working as nurses and ambulance drivers near the fighting. Isle survives the sinking of the luxury cruise ship, Lusitania, to fend off the loathing back in the US against her heritage. After returning to New York as an orphan, she has nowhere to go, so she heads back to England, hoping to find her aunt, a woman she has never met. Since she doesn’t know where she lives, she joins the Woman’s Army Corp and faces the same suspicion and anger experienced in New York. While working as a trainee nurse and ambulance driver near the battlefields in Belgium, she cares for a gassed American soldier fighting with the British army. As Isle cares for Roland’s wounds, a romance blossoms, eventually allowing him to return to the front. With death all around them, the pair write letters to one another, but the other nurses and the new hospital matron believe her to be a German spy.
This tale had an adventurous start, muddled through a slow, romantic buildup toward the middle, and had characters that were not only believable but well-developed. My only negative critique was the story's slow pacing, which included more historical detail than most historical romances. But I put on the kettle and snuggled in, reading it from start to finish over a weekend. It was difficult for me to see this book as a romance.
Despite the many formatting issues in the e-reader version, which made reading tedious, I enjoyed the book. I assume these errors will be corrected before publication. I want to thank Net Galley for the opportunity to read this fantastic tale of courage, resilience, strength, and love as a free ARC. It's a 4.5-star read! This review is voluntary and mine alone.
This tale had an adventurous start, muddled through a slow, romantic buildup toward the middle, and had characters that were not only believable but well-developed. My only negative critique was the story's slow pacing, which included more historical detail than most historical romances. But I put on the kettle and snuggled in, reading it from start to finish over a weekend. It was difficult for me to see this book as a romance.
Despite the many formatting issues in the e-reader version, which made reading tedious, I enjoyed the book. I assume these errors will be corrected before publication. I want to thank Net Galley for the opportunity to read this fantastic tale of courage, resilience, strength, and love as a free ARC. It's a 4.5-star read! This review is voluntary and mine alone.
July 4, 2025
In this excellent new World War I historical fiction novel, readers follow Ilse Marie Stahl and Roland Hawkins as they cope with their anger towards the Germans by joining the nursing corps and army respectively. Ilse, a survivor of the Lusitania, is stationed in Ypres after she becomes a nurse, and Roland enlists after his father dies in the Black Tom explosion in New York Harbor, and they meet in Belgium among the battlefields. As the war continues and doesn’t seem to end, Ilse and Roland have to face the war as nurse and soldier and as their individual selves with all the challenges that this comes with. Entertaining, thought-provoking, and detailed, this World War I novel really brings the challenges of German heritage and war to life. Ilse and Roland are complex and interesting characters, and their alternating perspectives and overlapping stories really do a fantastic job bringing the complexity of World War I and its impact on interpersonal relationships to life. The emotional throughlines of Ilse and Roland’s stories are very thought-provoking and pull readers into the story, and they do such a great job of immersing readers into this fascinating and complex new World War I historical fiction novel.
Thanks to NetGalley and Severn House for the advance copy.
Thanks to NetGalley and Severn House for the advance copy.
March 3, 2025
My goodness what an amazing book it certainly opens your eyes to what went in the War.
Ilise loses her parents to being sunk and finds no way to find her Mother’s family home she is an orphan and decides to become a nurse she is lucky to get in. Roland has a tragedy if his own and he finds a way to enlist before America comes into the War. Roland seems to have all the luck. Roland and Ilse meet at first he is hard on her as he finds out she half German, then they become friends.
The book certainly doesn’t pull any punches with the description of the battlefields and when the influenza struck. I enjoyed the chemistry with Roland and Ilse they worked well together. It was good some of the characters from the War that were real was interesting to read about them.
Would certainly recommend this book so well written.
Ilise loses her parents to being sunk and finds no way to find her Mother’s family home she is an orphan and decides to become a nurse she is lucky to get in. Roland has a tragedy if his own and he finds a way to enlist before America comes into the War. Roland seems to have all the luck. Roland and Ilse meet at first he is hard on her as he finds out she half German, then they become friends.
The book certainly doesn’t pull any punches with the description of the battlefields and when the influenza struck. I enjoyed the chemistry with Roland and Ilse they worked well together. It was good some of the characters from the War that were real was interesting to read about them.
Would certainly recommend this book so well written.
January 4, 2025
Isle Stahl is the only survivor of her family. They were sailing to England on the Lusitania, when it was torpedoed and sank. Roland Hawkins joins the British Army to fight in World War I. Their paths cross on a Belgian hospital field, where Ilse is a nurse. They fall in love, but will they be able to survive to share their lives?
I really enjoyed this book. It kept me enthralled from the first page to the last. The descriptions of war were very detailed and I felt like I was right in the thick of it. Highly recommended.
Thanks to NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an unbiased review.
I really enjoyed this book. It kept me enthralled from the first page to the last. The descriptions of war were very detailed and I felt like I was right in the thick of it. Highly recommended.
Thanks to NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an unbiased review.
March 10, 2025
I particularly enjoyed the part of this book set in Belgium and on the war front. It was sad to read about the prejudice that Marie experienced and know that millions of people with foreign ancestry would have been subject to this through no fault of their own. Nursing on the front line would have been hard enough without your fellow workers taking against you. Having visited the area and read a lot about nursing in these times I could picture the scenes described as they were so well written.
Thank you to NetGalley, the publishers and author for allowing me to read and review an Arc title.
Thank you to NetGalley, the publishers and author for allowing me to read and review an Arc title.
January 30, 2025
Gestopt rond 20%
Met dit boek moet ik stoppen ookal zou dit een 'must-read' moeten zijn.
Het is een WOI verhaal en dat is iets dat ik graag lees. Maar dit is een beetje te dicht bij huis en te gruwelijk.
De schrijfster heeft er geen probleem mee om over de gruwelijkheden in en rond de loopgraven te vertellen. En terecht, dit mag niet vergeten worden. Maar ik heb mijn overgrootmoeder nog goed gekend en haar huis is ondertussen mijn huis geworden. Dit lezen in haar huis terwijl zij WOI als kind heeft meegemaakt is ...
Met dit boek moet ik stoppen ookal zou dit een 'must-read' moeten zijn.
Het is een WOI verhaal en dat is iets dat ik graag lees. Maar dit is een beetje te dicht bij huis en te gruwelijk.
De schrijfster heeft er geen probleem mee om over de gruwelijkheden in en rond de loopgraven te vertellen. En terecht, dit mag niet vergeten worden. Maar ik heb mijn overgrootmoeder nog goed gekend en haar huis is ondertussen mijn huis geworden. Dit lezen in haar huis terwijl zij WOI als kind heeft meegemaakt is ...
December 26, 2024
When Isle manages to survive the sinking of the RMS Lusitania, she is determined to help others.
When she becomes a nurse to help in the war, she feels like she is giving back to after she she endured. Isle meets Roland, who is fighting in the war.
Isle drives ambulances in the war, but when she encounters others who believe she is a spy, she must fight to prove she is t.
But Isle and Roland need to find a way to move past heartbreak to move forward.
When she becomes a nurse to help in the war, she feels like she is giving back to after she she endured. Isle meets Roland, who is fighting in the war.
Isle drives ambulances in the war, but when she encounters others who believe she is a spy, she must fight to prove she is t.
But Isle and Roland need to find a way to move past heartbreak to move forward.
March 1, 2025
This short book packs quite a wallop! Well drawn characters that only made me want to know more about them when it was all done. All told during the criminally under represented WW I era. Secondary real life characters that now make me want to learn more about them. This doesn’t go deep into battle scenes or war strategies, and for someone who would rather meet interesting character, I am grateful for focus on the characters in this and themes of humanity during a brutal time.
April 4, 2025
As the Storm Clouds Gather tells an intimately human story amidst the backdrop of an inhuman war. The author's incredible attention to detail provides vivid imagery of WW1 in all its glory and horror. This is another great work of historical fiction from Henry!
The audiobook was really well done as well. Each chapter focuses on one of the main characters with narration provided by the matching male or female voice artist for each.
The audiobook was really well done as well. Each chapter focuses on one of the main characters with narration provided by the matching male or female voice artist for each.
April 18, 2025
This book was amazing! I really enjoyed reading it! I love how there was a mix of war, history, and love! And the way the author is so detailed you really can make a clear picture in your mind as you read. I read it so quickly because it was very addictive and now I wish I would have slowed down a bit 😊, now I can't wait for her next book!!!!
January 7, 2026
This book was so good. Set in WW1, a wonderful historical fiction novel that includes heartbreak and love. If you like books by Kelly Rummer, Martha Hall Kelly and Kristen Hannah, you will like this book.
December 5, 2024
What an incredibly descriptive (and sometimes gruesome) account of what it was like on the battlefields of WWI. Many historical romance novels set in the world wars tend to focus more on the romance than on the history, but this book was the perfect balance of having some romance mingled in with the horrors of what soldiers on the front went through.
There were some formatting issues which made this book hard to read in places, however this was an Advanced Readers Copy (with thanks to NetGalley!) so I am hoping these problems will be corrected for publishing.
4 stars out of 5 ⭐️
There were some formatting issues which made this book hard to read in places, however this was an Advanced Readers Copy (with thanks to NetGalley!) so I am hoping these problems will be corrected for publishing.
4 stars out of 5 ⭐️
September 10, 2025
It was difficult to read because of the description of the trenches and wounds and field hospitals, but in reality war is awful and beyond comprehension. It is quite the story and it kept me riveted.
The best books make us feel.
The best books make us feel.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews