Harvest of War

Written by Hilary Green
Review by Nanette Donohue

Leonora “Leo” Malham Brown has been through a lot in her young life. Eager for adventure, she joined the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry and traveled to the Balkans to assist in a military hospital. This third novel finds Leo back in the Balkans, searching for her daughter and her lover, Serbian colonel Sasha Malkovic. Malkovic is missing and presumed dead, and her daughter was taken in by a Serbian family following her birth. Leo’s bravery continues as she faces numerous challenges and situations that few women of her era and her station could have imagined, much less handled. There are plenty of well-timed coincidences, misunderstandings, and tragedies leading the saga to its satisfying ending.

Starting with the third volume is not recommended; the novels build upon each other very effectively, and knowledge of the characters’ pasts is essential to the enjoyment of Harvest of War.

Green wraps Leo’s story up realistically, so the endings for the characters are not always happy. That said, fans of old-fashioned wartime sagas will enjoy the Leonora trilogy in its entirety.