January 1918: Laura Iven, a Canadian nurse, returns home from the war, only to receive devastating news - her brother Freddie is dead.
But something doesn’t quite make sense. Determined to uncover the truth, Laura heads back to Belgium, volunteering at a private hospital. There, she encounters the eerie whispers of ghosts moving among those still living and a strange inn-keeper whose wine gives soldiers the gift of oblivion.
Could this have happened to Freddie - but if so, where is he?November 1917: Freddie Iven wakes after an explosion to find himself trapped with a wounded German soldier. Against all the odds, they form a bond and claw their way to an escape. But in the chaos of No Man's Land, neither know where to turn to avoid persecution.
Amidst the atrocity, they encounter a fiddler with the power to make their hellscape vanish - but at what price?
Katherine Arden