Lovely War

Colette reads an article about the heroics of the 369th American regiment, composed of Black American soldiers, and wonders whether this regiment could be what was previously Aubrey’s 15th New York National Guard division. She decides to send a letter to find out.

James receives orders from the Medical Review Board to report for retraining on July 15. The tide of the war seems to be turning in favor of Britain and its allies. James and Hazel desperately hope that James will return alive from his next tour in the trenches.

Colette is shocked when Aubrey arrives at Tante Solange’s home; she shrieks in surprise. She is furious with him for not letting her know earlier that he was alive. He hands her a letter that explains everything. They walk the streets of Paris. Colette comforts Aubrey about Joey’s death; he still struggles with a sense of culpability and guilt. Aubrey suggests that Colette should return to New York with him.

Hephaestus frees Aphrodite when she says that her tale has ended. Hephaestus tells Aphrodite that he understands the importance of her work: “You’re good at what you do. […] I envy your mortals” (406). Aphrodite blinks in surprise. She tries to tell him that the affair with Ares is “not what you think,” but Hephaestus does not want to hear her explanation. He angrily leaves Ares entrapped in the net. Ares tells the gathered gods that Aphrodite’s story is not finished.

Ares: Germany is defeated at the Battle of the Marne. Both James and Aubrey are involved in brutal battles in their respective positions on the Western Front. Aubrey’s division becomes renowned for their bravery, unity, and expertise; many are awarded medals by the French.

Aphrodite: Hazel and Colette return to the concentration camp at Compiègne. They are near where James is stationed, at Soissons. They arrange to meet when James next has a half day of rest, the following Saturday. Colette and Hazel—disguised in their old YMCA uniforms—will travel to Soissons for Saturday and then to Verdun, where Aubrey is stationed and has the following Monday off. James waits for Hazel at the train station at Soissons.

Ares: Suddenly, the train is bombed by German shells. There is chaos and explosions.

Hades: Hazel throws her body over her friend’s to protect her. Colette is unharmed, but Hazel is bleeding profusely. James arrives and puts pressure on Hazel’s bleeding injuries and summons a medic.

Hazel, disoriented and confused, arrives at The Royal Albert Hall. She reaches a beautiful grand piano. She sits down and plays. She asks Hades, in the form of her piano teacher, Monsieur Guillaume, whether she is dead. She sees a distant crowd of the people she loves, including her parents, Colette, James, and others, watching her from a balcony.

Hazel begs Hades to let her live. Aphrodite arrives and requests the same, imploring Hades that “hers is a love I’d only barely begun” (414). Hades agrees but warns Aphrodite that of Hazel’s “Passion, Love, and Beauty,” “she can no longer have them all” (415).

Hazel wakes up, disoriented, in a hospital. Colette is at her side. Hazel has been asleep for three days. She asks why she can’t see out of her right eye. Colette explains that it’s unharmed but covered with bandages as her cheek and forehead were badly cut with broken glass in the train crash. James appears in the doorway and greets Hazel: “Hello, Miss Windicott […] I’ve been missing you” (419).

James and Colette decide not to tell Hazel that she saved Colette’s life, believing that “heroism is much too heavy a burden to carry” (420). The bandages are removed. Hazel observes that “I look quite horrible” and worries for James’s sake that he might not find her attractive and may feel yoked to her (421). Aubrey visits Hazel; she is excited to see him. Hazel tries to end things with James, saying that she “can’t let you promise your forever to this out of pity or noble duty” (424). James insists that he loves her and that the scars don’t bother him. He produces a ring.

Hades produces handkerchiefs for the group of gods, all of whom are moved by the story (apart from Ares). Ares is shocked that the beautiful Aphrodite would trade places with a scarred mortal.

The war ends at 11:11 on November 11, 1918; the Kaiser abdicates, and German delegates sign the armistice. Aubrey visits Émile, who lost an arm in the final week of fighting, in hospital. Nurses produce a piano, and Aubrey plays, attracting patients from surrounding wards. Émile and a nurse leave the hospital together when Émile is discharged.

James invites Hazel and her family to his family’s Christmas celebration at Chelmsford. He suggests that they could get married at that time as well. Hazel is shocked and thrilled and agrees. They invite Aubrey and Colette.

Hazel and James get married and move into a flat in London. Hazel teaches piano, eventually securing a position in the Royal Academy of Music in London, and James works in an engineering firm, eventually training as an architect. They buy a poodle and have two children, Rose and Robert.

Ares: The survivors of the Harlem Hellfighters, as Aubrey’s division became known, are celebrated with a parade in New York.

Aphrodite: Aubrey’s family is waiting for him. He joyously returns home with them. Six days later, he brings Colette for Sunday dinner. Colette auditions for backup singer parts at nightclubs, and Aubrey continues to play for the 15th New York Army Band. They spend their other time together practicing pieces.

Apollo: Lieutenant Europe becomes a famed music producer, as well as famous for his exploits in the war leading the Harlem Hellfighters. He takes the 15th New York Army Band on a national tour.

Hades: A drummer in the band, angry that Europe seems to be favoring another drummer, stabs Europe in the neck with a penknife before a concert in Boston. Europe dies in a hospital later that night. He is the first Black person to receive a public funeral. Aubrey feels lost and devastated by his death.

Apollo: Aubrey and Colette audition at clubs and restaurants around New York, but most owners say that “their customers didn’t want Negro music, even if a white gal was singing it” (437). Aubrey is frequently told threateningly to “keep his hands off” Colette and is offered work as a busboy or dishwasher “if he wanted to do an honest day’s work” (438). Finally, they manage to get work at a café, and then a club when they lose this job. Their band eventually goes on a Northeastern, Midwestern, and East Coast tours. The East Coast tour includes parts of the South, which presents challenges as club owners often refuse to allow a band with a mix of Black and white musicians.

Back in New York, Aubrey and Colette record their music in a studio and land their first radio gig. They are beginning to become well known. Aubrey and Colette arrange to be married.