The Boy I Love by William Hussey

By Kate     date 28 July 2025

The Boy I Love by William Hussey

Published: Andersen Press 23 Jan 2025

Rating:★★★★★

Reading Age: 13-17 years

Genres: Historical Fiction, YA, LGBTQ+

About the Book

All I think, all I feel, all I know is pressed into this moment. And what I know is that I can’t let him go. 

1916. Returning to the Front after injury, nineteen-year-old Stephen wonders what he’s fighting for. Then he meets Private Danny McCormack, a smart, talented new recruit. From their first meeting, there’s something undeniable between them – something forbidden by both society and the army. Determined to protect Danny, Stephen must face down the ignorance of his superiors as well as the onslaught of German shells and sniper fire. As the summer ticks down to the Battle of the Somme, will Stephen and Danny’s love save them – or condemn them?

My Review

Why this book? 

Truth be told, the first thing that drew me to this book was the cover art. I love this style of art, and that piqued my interest. Then I read the blurb and decided I had to read it. I am always on the lookout for a good romance story, but a gay one in 1916? I was sold. That brings me to my second point. I’m a massive history lover, so I love to read historical fiction, especially books that touch on topics such as these; things forbidden by society at he time but something that very much happened.

Additionally, I’ve read many books set in the 1940s or WWII, but WWI seemed to be a bit of a gap in my historical fiction library. So it was a no-brainer to me. I had to read it (and boy am I glad I did!).

General thoughts? 

To begin with, this book absolutely blew me away. I could tell that the author had really done his research, and I appreciated that tremendously. Yes, I know it’s fiction – but it is historical fiction, at the end of the day (plus I’m a stickler for historical accuracy). Whilst reading this book, I really felt immersed in the world of 1916, one that filled me with love, hope, joy, but also fear, dread and immense sadness. I remember that there was one scene where a soldier received a punishment, more specifically a form of crucifixion, that left me horrified. You’d think that’s a bad thing, but to me, it rocketed this book to the top of my ranks. It taught me something that I didn’t know, but it also doesn’t shy away from the brutalities of war, which is something very important to me. Adding to that point, it also didn’t shy away from the health horrors that war inflicts on those out in the frontlines, as the death of Private Ollie Murray showcased (that destroyed me, btw).

The last chunk of the book was by far the most emotionally devastating as it detailed the first day of The Battle of the Somme. I’m sure we all know from history how devastating this battle was, the facts and figures, but I had never really thought about the Somme in this way before. I’d never really taken it out of the context of what history had told me, but this book forced me to remember the human cost of war and how terrible it truly, truly is. The book is really well written with fantastic prose that drives this point home, especially with the death of Private Percy Stanhope and seeing how it impacted those in his regiment. Overall, this book does a fantastic job at displaying the human toll that war takes and here are a few extracts to show this: 

 “Nineteen.” He shakes his head. “God forgive us”.

“Kamerad” (German word for Comrade, more on this later)

However, my biggest takeaway from this book was just how well written it was. I say that because it made me feel almost every emotion under the sun. Blood boiling rage, inexplicable happiness, edge of my seat tension and unmitigated terror. And that’s the mark of a brilliant book in my opinion. It gave me the whole show, and then some. That’s what I love. There are so many poignant moments throughout the book that I can’t possibly talk about them all. Additionally, there was a recurring motif throughout the book of “The Fighting Temeraire”, a painting that Stephen saw in a gallery and has never left him. The symbolism is so powerful, and it really drove home the sadness of war. Additionally, the song Danny keeps singing throughout the book, “the boy I love is up in the gallery”, becomes their song, and it’s how they find each other again while Stephen is standing in front of the Fighting Temeraire (the perfect ending).

I also want to briefly touch on “Kamerad”. This is the German word for Comrade. And it is a recurring theme in the book. Obviously, Germans and Brits were on opposing sides of the conflict, and that is clearly shown in this book. But what this also shows is the loss of humanity that war brings with it. If it weren’t wartime, if he was just a boy on the streets, the German wouldn’t have been killed. This is a poignant memory of Stephen’s and comes to serve him in the Somme when he doesn’t kill a German. Because the only reason they’re killing each other is for their countries. A brilliant poem that touches on this aspect of war is Wilfred Owen’s poem “Strange Meeting” which I highly recommend you check out.

But the bulk of this book, what really made it amazing, was the characters

Characters? 

Now we open the can of worms. These characters were so incredibly written. I would have done anything for some and could’ve killed others because of how much I hated them.

Let’s begin with Second Lieutenant Stephen Wraxall. I love this character so flipping much. Stephen’s driving force throughout the book is protecting Danny. But that comes from a past tragedy. The death of the one he loved, Michael. He doesn’t want Danny to die, to lose his spark or to become like him. I believe this passage from the book puts it perfectly: 

“Because if you’re close to me, Danny, maybe I can save you from turning into what I have become. Hard, bitter, hollowed-out. Mad as it sounds, maybe I really can help to preserve something of your spirit in the face of all this death and horror. And perhaps by doing so, I might make amends to the boy I once loved. A boy who followed me into Hell and who paid the price for it.”

This was the first moment in the book where I knew it was going to be emotionally devastating and amazing. The love that Stephen has for Danny is possibly the best romance I’ve read in a long time, and I was rooting for them since their first interaction. Additionally, “The Boy I Once Loved” adds so much character depth to Stephen. Basically, Stephen loved a boy called Michael who reciprocated his feelings, but the war took Michael from him far too soon, and so Stephen returned to the war. This is heartbreaking to me and showcases how war impacts people in so many ways. This fuels his desire to protect Danny. This story arc was written beautifully, and I really couldn’t get enough of this book.

However, my favourite character in the book was Private Danny McCormick. Honestly, I love this character so much. He’s new to the war, and he’s still got his spark in him, those playful and boyish qualities that war takes all too easily, yet he is incredibly emotionally intelligent and so kind. This is what endears Stephen to Danny, and honestly, what endears me to his character. Throughout the book, we learn that Danny has not had an easy life, and this has shaped who he is for the better. He didn’t let it get him down, and he’s still himself, which is so important. As I’m sure you’ll know, being gay wasn’t acceptable in the early 19th century to the vast majority of people, but Danny didn’t let it get to him. His humanity is shown in a chapter where he talks to Stephen about a theatre gig he was a part of and how there was this woman, Laura. I’ll let the quotes do the work:

“The name on her birth certificate was Alfie Makepiece, but among her friends she always went by her stage name… Laura really was Laura… I always thought of her as her never him… there’d been people like us all throughout history, and that we’d still be around right up until the final curtain was brought down on the human race.” 

He doesn’t view her as anything other than herself and as a friend, and that’s how it should be. That’s Danny. He’s there for people, loves his friends fiercely, and that is what makes him so endearing. I could probably write a dissertation on Danny, but that’s the general gist of why I love this character, so I’ll move on.

Next, I’m going to talk about Ollie Murray. Ollie Murray is a really important, however brief part of the book for me. Ollie Murray represents those young soldiers who signed up and wanted to do their part, but were not killed by a bullet or bayonet, but by a foot infection. This, sadly, was all too common (ifykyk) and took the lives of many soldiers. But what really took the life of Ollie Murray was the failure of his superior, Captain Beddowes (whom I hate with a burning passion), to get him a proper medic. Unfortunately, this happened all too often. Young boys were dying because of the failure of much older men. And what makes it that much worse is just how young Murray was. So young that people in the book commented that he looked just 12. And unfortunately, that’s not fiction. It happened too many times to count. Although it was devastating to read about his death, it served an incredibly important function. It showed the reality of war but also the human cost of the war, as they then had to figure out how to tell his mother. Due to a project at school, this hit a particularly painful chord. It wasn’t just a historical fact anymore; it was a tragic, personal loss that made the consequences of war feel all the more real.

Now I’m going to talk about blasted Beddowes. I hate his guts for so many reasons. To be honest, I’m not sure how to put it into words. His character just utterly infuriated me due to the way he treated the men in his charge. Ollie Murray, Danny McCormick, Stephen Wraxall and more. He was married to rules in a way that is extremely unhealthy and damages others, not to mention how horrid he was to Danny and Stephen for their sexuality. In the book, he’s given the nickname “Snake”, and I can’t think of a more fitting way to describe him. He’s just awful. He crucifies (literally, look it up, I’m serious) Danny as a field punishment, and that’s the tip of the iceberg. Failing to secure a medic for Murray is at the top of his long, long list of sins for me personally and what made it even worse was that when Beddowes sustained an injury from his own stupidity, Jackson (who is an infinitely better man, who I really like) orders that Beddowes gets at least a “half-decent medic” unlike the one he failed to procure for Murray. Additionally, he just can’t lighten up and have a good time either. This is shown when Danny and a few other men put on a brilliant show for the men before the horrors of the Somme, and he just sits there scowling. And really, this sulking is not only stupid for a grown man who is a Captain, but it also shows the amount of animosity he holds towards Danny and Stephen. Lastly, he just sniggers at Stephen when he has to undergo disciplinary action simply for loving Danny. This leads me to Gallagher.

Lieutenant-Colonel Gallagher is the “toad” to Beddowes “snake”, and I also loathe him. Not as much as Beddowes, because I’m not sure that’s possible, but you get my gist. Anyway – apart from being Beddowes’ accomplice to the long list of sins, he’s the one who outs Stephen for his sexuality. For being a “degenerate”. Obviously, Stephen isn’t, but you get what I’m saying. Here’s the scene:

Gallagher had taken vengeance by handing down the maximum penalty within his power: two years’ hard labour, plus another three for my unwillingness to cooperate with the trial. … Beddowes, who tapped his swagger stick against my chest. “Goodbye, Wraxall,” he crooned. “And don’t think I have given up on exposing your little friend either.” These two are a match made in the pits of hell. I’m not going to say any more on the horrors of these two, but just understand that these are quite possibly the two characters in literature that I despise the most. 

Next, we come to Captain Jackson. I like this guy. He doesn’t abuse his power in his position, and he cares for his men under him. But what really got me about Jackson was a side to him he revealed to Stephen. He also has a Danny/Michael. Sergeant Peter Greenway. He’d saved him from barbed wire, but “Peter died a year later in a casualty clearing station at Ypres. Pneumonia. An enemy I couldn’t save him from.” Jackson goes on to say this – “He was my Danny, Stephen. My world. So please believe me when I tell you, you don’t have to be frightened of me.” This broke me, I cried (for the 100th time reading this book), and it earned Jackson my admiration for his character. Additionally, this book is brilliant at the small details and really carries its characters through all the pages as Jackson wipes a tear when Danny sings about his boy in the gallery (Stephen. And it becomes their thing.) and he helps Stephen through the ghastly ordeal that the snake and toad put him through (after he was wounded in the Somme). He’s a man who cared for his men and made sure that they knew they could trust him.

This review is already really long, so I’m not going to dive into every other character in detail, but I’ll just say that I loved the men in the platoons and was also happy to see a lad from Wales, “Taffy”.

Favourite lines?
Honestly, I want to include the whole book in here, but I know I can’t, so what I’ll put here are the lines that made me think the most:

 “I had played dead for a while, then taken a soldier by surprise and shot him. If there was honour in that, I didn’t want it.”- Stephen Wraxall

“Get up, Private,” I shouted over the storm. “That’s an order.”
He shook his head again like an obstinate child. “Can’t. I’ll die if I go out there. We all will. Just look around you. It’s mad. It’s fucking mad!” ….
For this was the unlucky soldier who, not one hour after setting foot in the trench, would be killed by a German sniper.” – Stephen Wraxall & soldier.

“Six crucified men swim slowly into view” – Stephen Wraxall

‘What about the rules?’ he croaks.
I nod. “Damn the rules.”
And I mean it.” – Stephen Wraxall

“Kamerad” – German soldier

“You said he’d be looked after. You lied and he died in agony.” – Danny McCormick to Beddowes on the death of Ollie Murray

“I have no doubt in my mind that, with this plan, nineteen-sixteen will be the last year of the war.” – Captain Beddowes

“ ‘Nineteen.’ He shakes his head. ‘God forgive us.’ ” – Captain Jackson

“There he- she is” – Danny McCormick

“Jesus Christ, Danny, you ask me why I did it? … Because I love you. And if I can’t keep you safe, if I can’t save you, then at least I can stand with you. Whatever tomorrow brings, we’ll face it together.” – Stephen Wraxall

“Several bright red islands spread over his chest and stomach”

“Thousands dead and hardly a foot of ground taken.” – Captain Jackson

“Poor bloody Percy” – Private Robert Billings about Private Percy Stanhope

“Twenty thousand men died on that first day, with over fifty-seven thousand injured.” – Stephen Wraxall on the 1st day of the Somme

“Heart soaring in my chest, I turn to face him.
Danny. My Danny. Here and alive and beautiful.” – Stephen Wraxall

“There can be no happy ending for us, I know that. The world we’ve fought for isn’t made that way. Not yet, at least. But if war has taught us anything, it’s that happiness exists and must be treasured in the moment. I will treasure it now, however briefly, safe again in his arms.” – Stephen Wraxall

Wow. Ok, that’s a long one. If you’ve gotten this far, well done! Anyway, I just wanted to share the many thoughts I had on this book. If I’m being honest, this is the best book I’ve read this year, maybe in quite a while. I absolutely loved it, despite the emotional wreckage. Anyway, I gave the book 6 stars (yes, I’m aware there are only 5; I’d give it 7 if I could) because it was everything I wanted it to be and so so much more. I honestly recommend this book to literally anyone who wants to read it, because you should. But make sure there’s a box of tissues next to you (I almost cried writing this). 

Have you read The Boy I Love?

If not, don’t forget to add it to your TBR list.

Happy reading!

Kate x