Our Thoughts Precisely: The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden

Title: The Warm Hands of Ghosts

Series: n/a
Author: Katherine Arden
Source/Format: NetGalley; eARC
More Details: Fantasy; Historical Fiction
Publisher/Publication Date: Del Rey; February 13, 2024

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Synopsis from Goodreads...

During the Great War, a combat nurse searches for her brother, believed dead in the trenches despite eerie signs that suggest otherwise, in this hauntingly beautiful historical novel with a speculative twist from the New York Times bestselling author of The Bear and the Nightingale

January 1918. Laura Iven was a revered field nurse until she was wounded and discharged from the medical corps, leaving behind a brother still fighting in Flanders. Now home in Halifax, Canada, she receives word of Freddie’s death in combat, along with his personal effects—but something doesn’t make sense. Determined to uncover the truth, Laura returns to Belgium as a volunteer at a private hospital. Soon after arriving, she hears whispers about haunted trenches, and a strange hotelier whose wine gives soldiers the gift of oblivion. Could Freddie have escaped the battlefield, only to fall prey to something—or someone—else? November 1917. Freddie Iven awakens after an explosion to find himself trapped in an overturned pillbox with a wounded enemy soldier, a German by the name of Hans Winter. Against all odds, the two men form an alliance and succeed in clawing their way out. Unable to bear the thought of returning to the killing fields, especially on opposite sides, they take refuge with a mysterious man who seems to have the power to make the hellscape of the trenches disappear. As shells rain down on Flanders, and ghosts move among those yet living, Laura’s and Freddie’s deepest traumas are reawakened. Now they must decide whether their world is worth salvaging—or better left behind entirely.

Katherine Arden—the author of the Small Spaces quartet and The Winternight Trilogy—has returned to adult fantasy with her latest novel, The Warm Hands of Ghost. Set during World War 1, the story is a superb, devastating, and meticulously plotted historical novel with a dark (and thrilling) fantasy twist.

The Warm Hands of Ghosts is split between the perspectives of two siblings: Laura Iven, a combat nurse honorably discharged, and Freddie, a soldier who, early in the story, is assumed dead.

This book is a challenging read. Anything set during a war typically is, particularly in World War 1 and 2 as well as any of the conflicts that are part of real world history. But Arden doesn’t use it simply as set dressing. The author draws the conflict closer with stark imagery, detailed writing that immerses the reader, and by making it intrinsically personal to the characters.

Laura’s position as a combat nurse put her up close and personal with the wounded, the fighting, and the horror. She was cynical but also caring, skilled at nursing, and desperate for information about her only remaining family. Freddie’s experience is just as harrowing, and that was especially true of his time in the overturned pillbox and the events afterwards—it forever changes him. Even the secondary characters—for example Mrs. Shaw—are touched by the conflict, although they process their grief in different ways (and it spurs different actions). And that’s what makes each member of the cast standout.

The speculative aspects were excellent. They’re in a like vein to The Winter of the Witch, fitting seamlessly with the setting and themes. It was a period of change, and that too had to adapt to the times. And the result was an eerie, terrifying, and clever antagonist.

The Warm Hands of Ghosts is part ghost story and part story of survival. It’s also about family, loss, change, and hope; a tale that was intense and dark, and an incredibly emotional read. And I loved every second of it.

About the author....

Born in Austin, Texas, Katherine Arden spent her junior year of high school in Rennes, France. Following her acceptance to Middlebury College in Vermont, she deferred enrolment for a year in order to live and study in Moscow. At Middlebury, she specialized in French and Russian literature. After receiving her BA, she moved to Maui, Hawaii, working every kind of odd job imaginable, from grant writing and making crêpes to serving as a personal tour guide. After a year on the island, she moved to Briançon, France, and spent nine months teaching. She then returned to Maui, stayed for nearly a year, then left again to wander. Currently she lives in Vermont, but really, you never know. She is the author of The Bear and the Nightingale.

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