On Thursday, Harker’s Recreate Reading program welcomed author Julie Berry to discuss her latest novel, “The Lovely War.” In the book, the lives of four young people during World War I are examined from the perspective of Greek gods. Berry went into detail about the process of creating the novel, including the tremendous amount of research involved.

“Berry was inspired to write a book about World War I because there are a lot of young adult books about World War II but not a lot about World War I,” said senior Anika Fuloria. “She was also super interested in the subject matter, likening writing a book to doing a master’s degree in terms of research and dedication.”

The discussion also helped students find more ways to appreciate the book. “The reasoning behind her use of the Greek gods as the narrators helped me view the narrators differently,” said sophomore Keesha Gondipalli. “They were used to personify both love and war and create a way to tell the story both broadly and with details.” 

Fuloria enjoyed Berry’s explanation of the book’s ending: “She walked us through a few drafts of her book where each one had a different ending and explained why she did choose the ending in this way,” she said. “I found it super fulfilling as a reader of the book who imagined a few possible endings as I was reading.”