I love this book! I love the epic sweep. I love the historical detail of the politics leading up to WWI, the war itself, the Russian revolution, the Versailles Treaty, and so on. I love seeing how the growing movements for workers' and women's rights were entwined with those events. I now have lots to look up and learn more about.

I also love the fictional characters and the stories of their lives and how they intersect. Of course, there is an ominous background in that we know that European anti-semitism, the harsh reparations imposed on Germany, and the looming Depression lead up to WWII. The children of characters we love will not grow up in a world without war.

This is not beautiful literature; you will not find yourself pausing over a sentence and re-reading it to savour its poetry. This is transparent prose that you barely notice as it whisks you along through 900+ pages.

If you like Downton Abbey and historical fiction, I can't imagine you not enjoying this book.