In the perilous days of World Wars I and II, the gods hold the fates-- and the hearts-- of four mortals in their hands. They are Hazel, James, Aubrey, and Colette. A classical pianist from London, a British would-be architect-turned-soldier, a Harlem-born ragtime genius in the U.S. Army, and a Belgian orphan with a gorgeous voice and a devastating past. Their story, as told by goddess Aphrodite to her husband, Hephaestus, and her lover, Ares, is filled...

"Twelve-year-old Annabelle must learn to stand up for what's right in the face of a manipulative and violent new bully who targets people Annabelle cares about, including a homeless World War I veteran"--

In San Diego in 1918, as deadly influenza and World War I take their toll, sixteen-year-old Mary Shelley Black watches desperate mourners flock to séances and spirit photographers for comfort and, despite her scientific leanings, must consider if ghosts are real when her first love, killed in battle, returns.

"When unlikeable Elsie dies in the influenza pandemic of 1918, she comes back to haunt Annie to make sure she'll be Annie's best--and only--friend soon"--

"Jules and Jim are best friends. They play together. They go to school together. They grow up together. Through it all, Jim is always a little ahead of Jules-a little faster, a little stronger. So, when Canada goes to war against Germany in 1914, Jim is the first to volunteer, but Jules is right behind him. They fight together. They battle the cold and the mud of the trenches together. But in the end, only one of them will see the Armistice begin...

Writers of this collection of short stories were inspired to write about the First World War by physical objects associated with the war.

In 1914, on the eve of the First World War, Cyril is off to fight, Anthea is at art college, Robert is a Cambridge scholar, and Jane is at high school when the sand fairy, Psammead, suddenly reappears, and his magic has a more serious purpose than when the siblings were children.

May, 1915. Alfie and his fisherman father find a girl on an uninhabited island in the Scillies-- injured, thirsty, lost-- and with absolutely no memory of who she is, or how she came to be there. She can say only one word: Lucy. Is she a mermaid, the victim of a German U-boat, or even, as some islanders suggest, a German spy? Only one thing is for sure: she loves music and moonlight, and it is when she listens to the gramophone that the glimmers of...

In 1902 England, Clarry and Peter struggle with the challenges of living with an indifferent father, but the summers they spend in Cornwall with their grandparents and cousin Rupert provide much needed comfort, and in the years that follow Clarry looks back on those leisurely days to help her cope with the trying times of World War I and its aftermath.

When Alice goes to stay with her grandmother she discovers the magical Darkling Wood, where she meets a strange friend and discovers letters written between a brother and sister during WWI.