Fleeting Dreams, by: Joan Fowle Miles – Book Review

Fleeting Dreams: Love Letters from World War I – The Architect and the Librarian, by Joan Fowle Miles is a celebration of love. It celebrates the love between a man and a woman even in the midst of the hardships of separation, the devotion of a son to his father, the admiration for the wonders of this world that cannot be diminished even by the fear of war, and the loyalty that you feel your country. Through a series of actual letters written by his parents during World War I, Miles allows readers to discover the nation’s thoughts, ideals, and fears during this harrowing period in history.

There is much to admire in this collection of letters. The first is the vast amount of work that must have gone into transcribing this long series of letters spanning years and his devotion to keeping them as close to their raw, original form as possible. This is honest work and no attempt has been made to embellish the events that occurred. This is refreshing in an age where explosions, intrigue, danger, and sex are often exploited to create a more compelling form of entertainment. Instead, Miles allows the natural emotions of the letter to tell the story, thereby creating a truer narrative.

As admirable as these qualities are, there is much editing work that must be done before this book is released to the public. Structurally, the book is relatively sound except for several instances of entire sections of text being repeated. I assume this is due to copying and pasting text without deleting the old text. There are also instances of possible missing text and misused font, which can confuse the reader as the author has chosen to use font as a way to distinguish whose writing is being read. These issues could easily be fixed by a good copyeditor, but the author also needs to make some creative editing decisions. While it’s understandable that Miles would hang on to every word from his parents, there’s a lot in these letters that the average reader with no ties to the issues would find rather boring. Accounts of food being eaten or vague descriptions of buildings are simply not interesting to most readers. It would be to Miles’ benefit to decide what story he hopes to convey from this set and remove anything on these cards that is not necessary for the story. The same can be said of the historical anecdotes that he provides with letters. While some are quite interesting, many simply distract from the lyrics instead of providing clarity. Some historical background is necessary, but it must be carefully chosen and researched so that it complements the cards rather than overshadowing them.

I really think that fleeting dreams it has the potential to be an entertaining and educational read, but it’s just not ready in its current form. I think readers who are interested in the WWI time period in its entirety will find this an interesting volume to peruse, but the average reader may want to expect a more condensed and modified story. I hope that Joan Fowle Miles will continue to work on this book and that she will have the opportunity to read a new edition in the future.