Alice in Love and War by Ann Turnbull

Alice in Love and War Reviews

• 
  Farah Mendlesohn

  I do love this book. Of all the Civil War novels on my shelves (130 so far) this is my favourite. Turnbull manages to stay fairly neutral, and give a decent account of both sides. Alice is a real person not a cipher (a flaw with too many of these books). I'd also note it's the only book to bring the massacre at Naseby up front.
• 
  Ophelia

  Loved this book! It was amazing I didn't think I would but I did! It's one of those books where you want to read more, it's full of adventure, romance, horror, and much more! When I finished it I wanted to read it again!
• 
  Emily

  See this review and more at my blog:
  https://readwritetravel.wordpress.com...
  
  Alice Newcombe is unhappy at her uncle’s farm. When soldiers from the royalist army seek food and shelter there, she is infatuated with Robin, who gives her kisses and is kind to her. As their relationship quickly develops, Alice knows the path she wants to take: she’ll follow the army train so she can be near him at all times, and soon they will be married.
  
  But war does not always go as planned, for anyone. Alice is thrust into the tumult of the English Civil War at the tender age of sixteen, surrounded by strangers, homeless, with no wealth but the knowledge in her father’s apothecary book to support her. Her journey leads her to the arms of good people and bad, and just when all seems to go well, it goes horribly, horribly wrong.
  
  The back of this book makes it sound like a typical romance–please do not go into it thinking it is, or you will probably reach page 35, chuck the book across the room, and wonder how anything could be even worse than Twilight.
  
  By page 35, Alice meets Robin for the first time, sneaks out of the house to smooch him a bit, he takes her virginity, and she’s convinced she’s completely and totally in love and that they’ll get married soon and live happily ever after.
  
  At this point, I was groaning. I had never encountered a character so unbelievably stupid. There was no character development (save for Alice’s stupidity) and I thought for sure that this was how it was going to continue: lalala, love love love, then maybe Robin gets killed in the war and she has to grow up a bit. The end.
  
  But then the book shaped into something so much more. Perhaps I should have seen it then–because really, when a character is so mind-numbingly dumb, where is there to go but up? And Alice reaches for the moon and lands among the stars. While she’s still hoping on Robin for a good half of the book, the reader begins to see that the situation is hopeless–Robin isn’t all he seems, and didn’t want love at all. This isn’t a happily ever after. Alice goes through difficulties which make her grow up sooner rather than later. She is employed in a good house making herbal teas and poultices for the family. She witnesses the horrors of war first hand and has a great responsibility thrust upon her shoulders. She sees more of the world, and craves to see even more–to learn and grow and become useful.
  
  Alice by the end of the book is nothing like the Alice in the first 35 pages. She is more careful, likable, clever, and bold–at least as much as she can be as a woman in the 1640s.
  
  And the plot, while still a romance, focuses much more on Alice’s growth as a character. There is so much symbolism chucked in here I started writing an essay in my head before remembering I’d already graduated. It’s a coming-of-age story and a becoming-a-woman story. While set in a historical period, I think there is much to be gained by teenage girls of today reading this book. It’s an empowering story of faithfulness and friendship, and faithfulness to yourself.
  
  I was also impressed with the historical details, big and small, that make it clear this is one well-researched book. The setting and time period jump from the pages and suck you in until you’ve read every last word.
• 
  Laura

  What an absolutely delightful book! As soon as I finished it I wanted to go straight back to the beginning and read it all over again. Ann Turnbull truly brought the era to life.
  
  Set during the English Civil War in the mid 1600s, "Alice in Love and War" is the story of Alice Newcombe. Both of Alice's parents are dead and she's unloved and unhappy living with an Uncle who's constantly feeling her up and an Aunt who's either oblivious to this or just doesn't care. Everything changes for Alice though when the King's army (the Cavaliers)pass through her village and are billeted in her Uncle's house and Alice meets the charming and incredibly handsome Robin Hilliers. Alice falls completely and utterly in love with Robin and believes he feels the same for her. She sees his arrival in her life as a way of escaping her current unhappiness, and when the army makes preparations to move on a desperate Alice begs Robin to take her with him.
  
  It doesn't take long though for Alice to realise that life on the move with the army wasn't exactly what she'd expected, and nor is Robin the man she believed him to be ...
  
  "Alice in Love and War" is a powerful and moving story - Alice witnesses real horror and has to deal with some awful, tragic things - but there's a real undercurrent of hope running through her story. Alice's naivety was sometimes frustrating and I often wanted to shake some sense into her - particularly where Robin was involved! But you could understand her need to be loved by him. I loved the character of Jem and was so pleased when he came into Alice's life - she deserved him! Or maybe I should say that they deserved each other. : )
  
  Highly recommended!
  
  
• 
  Rebecca

  Alice Newcombe’s father died when she was eleven, leaving her an orphan. She was sent to live on her aunt and uncle’s farm, where she felt unwelcome from the start. Five years pass, until Alice is sixteen in the year 1644. Civil war divides England, but Alice is most worried about fighting off the unwelcome advances of her uncle, and fears what will happen if one day, she cannot fight him off. So when Royalist soldiers come to their village, and Alice falls in love with one young soldier named Robin, she seizes her chance to escape, and leaves with Robin to join the other women on the baggage train following the army.
  
  Life is hard, but Alice becomes friends with many of the women on the baggage train. And she loves Robin, and is sure he loves her too. But when he leaves her alone for the winter, she begins to wonder if he was honest with her, and if he really cares for her as much as she did. What will happen to her if he does not return? Can she make her own way in a country torn apart by a violent war?
  
  Alice in Love and War is an excellent historical novel that brings to life the English Civil War, a time period I didn’t know much about as an American reader. Alice is a well-developed and likeable character and the book kept me turning the pages eagerly to find out what would happen to her next. There are some mature themes in this book, although not described in graphic detail, so I wouldn’t recommend this book for young readers, but it is an excellent book for teens - and adults too - who love historical fiction.
  
• 
  Giulia

  I really loved this book as it had just the right mix of adult themes and young adult themes and bringing out a period in history which not everyone is familiar with which was refreshing.
  I really liked Alice; she was headstrong, but not overly so as it would have killed the romance. Robin...I didn't hate him as he taught her a valuable lesson. Her friends were also good characters and even the baby. Christian and all at the hall were good and it was all brought together by her love of cures and remedies which added another layer to the book. Finally, Jem was great and I really liked his gentlemanly character.
  It's also good in the aspect that she doesn't only wait around for love, but she has her own things going on, which makes her a better person. And then there's the whole war and letters thing that never ceases to capture my imagination!
  
  Re-read July 2021:
  So I reread this in one sitting several years after I read it for the first time because I couldn’t get it out of my mind. It says a lot that I still think about this book from time to time, and now with more reading experience in the world, I can say what is the best about this book is its balance. It’s not wholly a love story, nor a historical drama or a war story nor a coming of age. In fact, it’s all of those things very finely balanced in a well-paced and well-researched book that brings out the atmosphere. Now that I’m older too, I can see how Alice can be foolish and naive for her age, but the author portrays her very honestly. I would still really recommend this book.
• 
  Wizzy

  I have to admit I was slightly disappointed at the end of this book. I like historical fiction and am interested in the civil war, but this was basically a love story set in the past. I suppose I should have suspected this when I saw the title, but I had recently read other books by this author which were much better than that. At once, I had predicted most of the storyline and was pretty disinterested until a certain scene which actually shocked me and practically gave this book its three stars because it was so moving. This book could have done with being written in the first person (which I'm pretty sure it wasn't) because the story never strayed from Alice and it might have helped the story hold my interest.
• 
  Sarah

  This is the second novel by Ann Turnbull that I have read and both have the historical setting of the English Civil War as a backdrop. A teen novel, Alice runs away with her first love and becomes a camp follower convinced her true love will marry her at the next town. Obviously this isn't going to happen and the story closely follows the brutality of war and the relationships of men fighting a war while their women follow them. An interesting read and one with a bit of depth to it too.
• 
  Fariha

  This is a 3.5+ but I couldn't give it a 4. Alice's character was just too annoyingly foolish and slow to learn. It took her half the book to even begin to doubt her silliness. Which is a shame because the idea of the book was really good and it had the potential to be a really amazing book. Unfortunately, the main character kinda ruined it for me. But others may find her more bearable so give it a go, you never know. (Clearly I am a rhyming poet!)
• 
  Bani

  Loved it, loved it, loved it!!
  
  I don't say that a lot but this book was really well written. The background of the Civil War, the struggle of a young girl, the romance, it all blended really well for me.
• 
  Libby

  It was like a teenage Mills&Boon.