A Soldier of the Great War

"Fit to stand alongside the works of Erich Maria Remarque, and, yes, Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms . . . . Helprin has written a monumental novel." - Front Page, The Washington Post Book Review For Alessandro Giuliani, the son of a prosperous Roman lawyer, trees shimmer in the sun beneath a sky of perfect blue, and at night the moon is amber as Rome seethes with light. He races horses across country to the sea, climbs in the Alps, and is a student of painting and aesthetics. And he falls in love, deeply and eternally. Then the Great War intervenes. Half a century later, in August of 1964, Alessandro, a white-haired professor, finds himself unexpectedly on the road with an illiterate young factory worker. During a walk over days and nights, the old man tells the story of his life. How he was a soldier, a hero, a prisoner, and a deserter. And how he tragically lost one family, but gained another. Dazzled by the action and envious of the richness and color of the story, the boy realizes that the old man's magnificent tale of love and war is more than just a tale: it is the recapitulation of his life, his reckoning with mortality, and above all, a love song for his family. "With riotous energy and sustained brilliance . . . Helprin lights his own way, in his own singular direction." - Time "Tolstoy . . . Stephen Crane . . . Stendhal . . . Now - daringly, dazzlingly - Mark Helprin stakes his claim to membership in these latter ranks . . . . He succeeds triumphantly." - The Chicago Tribune A New York Times Bestseller Educated at Harvard, Princeton, and Oxford, Mark Helprin served in the Israeli army, Israeli Air Force, and British Merchant Navy. He is the author of, among other titles, Refiner's Fire, Ellis Island and Other Stories, Winter's Tale, A Soldier of the Great War, Memoir from Antproof Case, The Pacific and Other Stories, and Freddy and Fredericka.