The Boy I Love – William Hussey

Published By: Andersen Press
Pages: 304
Released On: 23/01/2025

At just nineteen, Stephen has already survived a year at the front. Now he is returning to the trenches to lead a platoon, despite his wounds. Broken-hearted from the loss of his first love, Stephen wonders what he’s fighting for.

Then he meets Private Danny McCormick, a smart, talented young recruit whose strong opinions will surely get him into trouble. From their first meeting, there’s something undeniable between them – something forbidden by both society and the army. Determined to protect Danny, Stephen must face down the prejudices and ignorance of his superiors as well as the onslaught of German shells and sniper fire.

As the summer of 1916 ticks down to one big push on the Somme, can Stephen and Danny stay together – and will their love save them – or condemn them?

*****

Thanks to NetGalley and Andersen Press for the advanced copy of this title in return for an honest review.

I love William Hussey’s books, especially his Killing Jericho series, but I have recently started to read some of his other novels, and so I’m excited to add this to the list.

This one sounded really beautiful. I was asked a few months ago by an ignorant person on social media, “why do you read gay books when you’re not gay”. And I was so dumbfounded, like I could only read books written by an author, or featuring a character, who is LGBTQ+ if I was myself LGBTQ+. I don’t read “gay books” because it’s written by a gay author, and I don’t read “gay books” because the characters are gay. I read this book because I am a fan of William’s writing and the story sounded interesting. The reason I read “gay books” like William’s, is that they are perfect. They are beautiful, and they carry so much hope for readers young and old, and that is proven in this book.

It is such a beautiful love story. I imagine there will be comparisons to Alice Winn’s In Memoriam (which is one of my favourite books ever!). As a reader I’m okay with the comparisons, and I hope William is too. There’s room for what are, at their very heart, two beautiful love stories.

It’s a war book, but it’s not about the war, not really. It’s about a man and about love at a time when love was very binary. It shows that love is, and should be, love. Just love.

It’s still hard for me to believe that these men, these boys, were risking their lives to save people, the same people who ignorantly believed their romantic notions to be wrong. They couldn’t forgive homosexuality, even if such a person was responsible for their survival. I know it was a different time, and I’m lucky enough that for most of my life, LGBTQ+ topics and people have generally been accepted. There’s obviously still issues and I’m not going to gloss over them, nor am I going to pretend I’m an expert, but I still struggle to understand how someone could forget all the heroics a man had done for their safety just because of who they love. It angers me.

It is full of metaphors and exquisite poetic language. This can often be stifling and get in the way of the actual story but William has done it so well that it only enhances everything. It paints a picture – not always a happy picture – that tugs at your heartstrings right frrom the very start.

I have read a lot of war books in my time, fictional and non-fiction, WW1 and WW2, and after a time you think you’ve read it all. And yet this book showed me a part of the war I knew only in passing; I do know of the battle of the Somme but not all the details. This was a (excuse the choice of words) lovely thing to read, as the men involved in every aspect of the war should be remembered. I know this is a novel and the characters and goings-on are fictional, but the setting, the battle, the losses – all of that is very real.

William has covered crime thrillers and fantasy, and now dips his toe into war stories. And whilst I have only read his crime novels so far, judging by the reviews I’ve seen of his others, he is an author who can excel in all genres, thanks to the powerful characters he creates.

It is a sad story at times, yes, that’s to be expected with a book set during WW1. There is injury and death and grief, but amongst all of that there is love and hope and friendship.

There is a plot obviously, it’s about the war and the men in it. But for me, this is mostly character, and I much prefer character development over plot any day, and William has mastered that. These men, Stephen and Danny, they are kids really, still teenagers, seen too much and asked to do more than anyone of their age should do. But they’re determined not to let it darken their love, which is difficult to do as two gay men in 1916.They weren’t going to let prejudice stand in their way, let pain and death spoil their happiness. This story is theirs, from start to finish. We see them develop over a short space of time, as individuals, as comrades, and as loves. And it is so tenderly done, so sensitive and so beautiful. And for me, it’s probably one of the best character creations I’ve read in a long time.

Whilst it is a sad book in many ways, I felt I was coping quite well. But it got to about 85% of the way through, and I couldn’t hold it in anymore and I spent the rest of the book in tears.