Aimie K Runyan's 'The Liberty Scarf' is subtitled 'A story of Three Women, One War, and a Scarf That Binds Them Together'. It is actually written by three authors -J'nell Ciesielski and Rachel McMillan, as well as Runyan - each one telling a love story set in World War One and connected by the Liberty scarf of the title. So it's really three novellas, I suppose and whilst the writing styles work together, I found the ending quite unsatisfactory and unbelievable. The three individual stories are interesting enough and I know others have loved them all. Perhaps all just a bit 'schmalzy' for me.

I enjoyed the first section and wanted to understand how much might be quite factual and how much pure fiction. The other two sections didn't really interest me enough and inaccuracies and unlikely (impossible) coincidences just plain annoyed me. I wish Runyan had found enough to write the complete story herself. I think there was plenty of material for that.

I knew nothing about Liberty Scarves until this read. . .how ignorant am I? Now that I've found them, and seen how beautiful they are. . .well, the stage is set for this read.

Three women of 1917:
- Iris B. in London works where the scarves are designed and made. She sends messages in her scarves to her beau.
- Genevieve Tremblay of Maine (but she's really French-Canadian) is a telephone operator for the US Army, and meets an interesting French officer on loan to the Americans.
- Clara Janssens of Belgium is a nurse who meets Roman - an Alsatian musician - while taking care of him in hospital.

These stories are well-presented, with one luscious slice of silk to then connect them all. . . .

*A sincere thank you to Aimie K. Runyan, J'nell Ciesielski, Rachel McMillan, HarperCollins Focus | Harper Muse, and NetGalley for an ARC to read and review independently.* TheLibertyScarf #NetGalley

I enjoyed this historical fiction novel very much. The structure is three stories that eventually come together at the end. The common thread is the beautiful Liberty scarf. Highly recommend.

Book Title: The Liberty Scarf

Authors: Aimie K. Runyan, J’nell Ciesielski, and Rachel McMillan

Narrators: Ann Marie Gideon, Gary Furlong, Caroline Hewitt, and Saskia Maarleveld

Genre: Historical Fiction; World War I-Era Women’s Fiction

Publication Date: 19 November 2024

Rating: ★★★★☆

I received a free copy from HarperCollins Focus | Harper Muse and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Introduction

🧣 Across time and across people, a scarf can be a bind, a whisper of connection woven into threads of hope and love. The Liberty Scarf put together by the Aimie K. Runyan, J’nell Ciesielski, and Rachel McMillan beautifully intertwines the lives of three women during the tumultuous winter of 1917, each connected by a singular, meaningful scarf.

Plot Summary (Spoiler-Free)

💖 The narrative unfolds through three distinct but interconnected stories, all set against the backdrop of World War I. In London, Iris Braxton, an ambitious scarf maker, dreams of becoming Liberty's first female pattern designer. Her path crosses with Captain Rex Conrad, a dashing soldier, and despite the grim realities of war, a tender romance blossoms. Their promise to reunite in Strasbourg sees Iris stitching hidden messages into her scarves, hoping one reaches Rex as he returns to the front.

💖 Meanwhile, in Lewiston, Maine, we meet Geneviève Tremblay, a French-Canadian immigrant and telephone operator. Her decision to enlist in the U.S. Army Signal Corps to serve as a bi-lingual operator leads her to question the cost of assimilation and identity when she encounters a French officer who challenges her preconceived notions.

💖 Lastly, in Belgium, Clara Janssens, a Flemish Nurse, finds an unexpected connection with Roman Allaire, an Alsatian violinist, in a palace-turned-hospital. Their shared love for music creates a bond that transcends the destruction of battle, with an unexpected gift of a treasured scarf offering a glimmer of hope for a future brighter than they could have imagined. These three individual tales are gently tied together by the presence of the titular Liberty Scarf and the overarching theme of hope amidst adversity.

Narration and Performance

🎧 The audiobook was truly a delight to listen to! The four narrators, Ann Marie Gideon, Gary Furlong, Caroline Hewitt, and Saskia Maarleveld, brought the distinct voices of each character to life with remarkable skill. Their varied accents and clear delivery ensured that each storyline felt unique and engaging, making the transitions between the different perspectives seamless and immersive. The performance significantly enhanced the emotional impact of the story, allowing the nuances of each woman's journey to shine through.

Overall Thoughts

✨ This 3-piece-novel was a tender and quietly powerful read, expertly weaving together wartime stories of three courageous women with surprising grace. I particularly appreciated how the authors focused on the everyday resilience and courage of women during such a challenging period. Iris’s ambition, Geneviève’s struggle with identity, and Clara and Roman’s poignant connection through music all resonated deeply. While the pacing occasionally felt a little slow as the narrative shifted between the three storylines, the scarf served as a beautiful, symbolic thread that bound their lives together.

📖 What stood out for me was the authors' insightful notes at the end, detailing their inspiration behind this remarkable book. It added a layer of depth and appreciation, offering a wonderful glimpse into the creative process and the historical backdrop that shaped these characters and their experiences. It’s always so lovely to understand the seeds from which such beautiful stories grow.

Conclusion & Final Rating

💌 The Liberty Scarf is a deeply moving historical novel that celebrates resilience, love, and the quiet power of connection forged in the most trying of times. It reminds us that hope can travel across oceans, languages, and lifetimes, tucked quietly into the simplest of gestures, or even, into a scarf.

Final Rating: ★★★★☆

Book Tropes:

Wartime Romance

Interwoven Lives

Found Family

Strength of Women

Hope in Adversity

----

If you liked this review, follow and subscribe to my Substack (https://cristinaciteste.substack.com/) for more book reviews!

This is a WWI-era tale of three women from different countries whose lives are loosely connected by a scarf. The women’s stories, penned by three different authors, are mildly interesting. I especially liked the story of Genevieve, who was one of the women who deployed as a telephone operator for the Army Signal Corps. I had not been aware of the “Hello Girls” prior to reading this. I also thought that the recurring use of the Emily Dickinson poem “Hope is the thing with feathers” was a lovely thread throughout the book.

However, I was not a big fan of how the narratives were presented, essentially as three disconnected stories tied up with an epilogue. I think there’s an art to weaving together converging stories, and this just seemed lazily slapped together. The epilogue also felt a bit contrived.

I listened to this as an audiobook, which was well done, with four narrators helping to bring the story to life with a range of accents.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Muse Audiobooks for the ALC!

This is a sweet story of three separate women finding themselves (and their loves) during the last years of WWI.

While the titular Liberty Scarf is the thread that pulls all the character's stories together; this story reads more like three separate novellas set in the same time period and quickly tied together in the epilogue <spoiler>by all the characters conveniently being in the same spot and recognising each other or the scarf in question.</spoiler>

I did enjoy this story, but it wasn't enough to capture my fall attention throughout

I absolutely loved how the three brave women during the war find this Liberty Scarf as a symbol of hope, not just hope but finding love.
I enjoyed each of the women’s story and they are so inspiring and amazing individuals.

The narrators did an excellent job in giving the characters to life.

Thank you NetGalley and HarperCollins Focus for an amazing historical fiction.

Thanks to Netgalley for the oportunitty to listen to this book.

Three different couples and their stories, all interconnected by a scarf, but also by the events of the war. Each couple has their story told in one of the parts of the book, but it is always possible to feel the presence of all of them in all the stories.
It is a book that makes your heart ache with such sad events that are inherent to war, but that has a message of hope that even after all the sadness, good things can happen.
Hope is the thing with feathers

The narration is exquisite, all the emotions are present throughout the book. As there are several voices it is much easier to identify which character is speaking at each moment. Congratulations to Ann Marie Gideon; Gary Furlong; Caroline Hewitt; Saskia Maarleveld.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4/5 Stars (Excellent)
Setting: 1917 Europe and the U.S.—London, Strasbourg, Brussels, and Lewiston, Maine
Genre: Historical Fiction; World War I-Era Women’s Fiction

This was a tender, quietly powerful read that wove together three women’s wartime stories with surprising grace. I love historical fiction that focuses on the everyday courage of women, and The Liberty Scarf does just that—thread by thread, scene by scene.

Iris’s storyline drew me in right away. Her ambition to rise above her station, to become Liberty’s first female pattern designer, felt both grounded and aspirational. I appreciated that her love story with Rex didn’t overshadow her personal goals—it complemented them. The idea of her stitching secret messages into scarves added such a thoughtful, hopeful touch to a time full of fear and uncertainty.

Geneviève’s arc brought a different kind of tension—one that felt just as relevant now as then. Her struggle with cultural identity and assimilation, especially in a community where she constantly had to shape-shift to be accepted, gave her character depth. Her storyline was a quiet reminder that sometimes the biggest battles are the internal ones.

Clara and Roman’s story was the most romantic to me, almost dreamlike in its beauty and heartbreak. Their shared love of music in a war-torn hospital was moving, and I loved how their story underscored the healing power of art even in the darkest moments.

My one critique is that the pacing occasionally slowed, especially when the narrative shifted between the three storylines. I sometimes had to reorient myself or flip back a few pages. Still, the scarf as a connecting thread (literally and figuratively) was lovely, and by the end, I was fully invested in the women’s fates.

This book reminded me that hope can travel across oceans, languages, and lifetimes—even if it’s just tucked quietly into a scarf.
#netgalley #thelibertyscarf #booked_this_weekend

3.5 stars ⭐️

✨ Three women. One scarf. A war that changes everything.✨

The Liberty Scarf by Aimie K. Runyan, J’nell Ciesielski & Rachel McMillan weaves together the stories of three courageous women during WWI, all linked by a single scarf passed from hand to hand.

🧵 Iris, a bold scarf-maker in London, dares to dream of becoming Liberty’s first female designer—even as war threatens everything she loves.

📞 Geneviève, a French-Canadian operator in Maine, finds her voice and questions the cost of fitting in as she joins the U.S. Army Signal Corps.

🎻 Clara, a Flemish nurse in Belgium, discovers healing, music, and love amidst the ruins of a palace-turned-hospital.

This deeply moving historical novel celebrates resilience, love, identity—and the quiet power of a handmade gift stitched with hope.

The narration was a standout. The pacing flowed beautifully, and I really appreciated the subtle accents and clear distinctions between each character’s voice. It made the transitions between their stories feel effortless and immersive.

Favorite quotes: ‼️

I hope things aren’t too grueling for you wherever you are. I think so often about what you said, about why you entered the war. For so many, it was about the glory and the honor. I think if more men viewed things as you do, wars would be far less common. Though, if women were to run things there wouldn’t be any at all.

How many generations would it be before these horrors were forgotten - and other petty squabbles between rich men and crowed heads led to the sons of common men being dragged off to war under the false pretenses of glory, duty, and honor?

“I want to be able to anticipate any sense about you.”
“That’s ridiculous, you can’t predict everything.”
“ I predicted I would fall in love with you when I heard your incessant talking.”

Three strong women fighting against the restrictive norms of the time period, three different locations and three love stories, all set during World War I and tied together by a beautiful Liberty scarf. I liked how the scarf symbolized how hope and beauty can be a balm to the soul even in the darkest of times, and the narrators of the audio version did an excellent job. However, I found this book to be painfully slow and meandering. The characters and the settings were drawn well enough, but I just never quite connected with any of them.

Clara, Geneviève, & Iris’s story was beautiful. I was utterly entranced in the story and it made household chores whilst I listened to it a lot more entertaining. Despite occurring in wartime, there were some lovely cozy moments, and the reminder of serendipity and that love conquers all in the end. My Gran grew up in a different war, and this book reminded me a lot of her stories, albeit in a slightly different era.

The Liberty Scarf didn't really do it for me. I liked the individual stories well enough, especially the first two, but they ended too abruptly, leaving me unsatisfied. And I wasn't impressed by the half-hearted attempt to tie them all together at the end. On the positive side: the historical details were interesting, particularly the section about Geneviève's experiences as an immigrant. Probably a reflection of how unemotionally involved I was in the stories, but I frequently found myself wondering just how filthy the scarves had become. How WOULD one clean silk in the middle of a war? I won't be sharing this review socially. I've read other novels by each of these writers and have favorable impressions of all of them, but I'm not up to persuading anyone to read this title.

What a beautiful audiobook! The performance was excellent! The story is beautifully written. The story moves along flawlessly with three authors. I love the characters and emotionally drawn in with their stories which tie together with a liberty scarf mixed with the tragedy of war and the hope of love! Beautiful story to listen to while traveling or relaxing by the pool!

The Liberty Scarf tells the story of three women—each in a different place and phase of World War I—linked by a single silk scarf. The idea is lovely: that a handmade item, stitched with care and hidden messages, could travel across borders and connect lives. And for the most part, it works… just not as smoothly as I hoped.

Iris, the Liberty scarf maker with big dreams and a guarded heart, was the standout for me. Her chapters were full of hope, creativity, and a touch of romance. Geneviève, a French-Canadian Signal Corps recruit, brought up timely questions about assimilation and identity, but her story felt rushed. Clara, a Flemish nurse, had a sweet musical connection with a wounded violinist—but their relationship never quite took flight before the story moved on.

The problem lies in the seams. With three authors writing three threads, the tone and pacing shift noticeably between sections. The scarf connects them symbolically, but narratively, it doesn’t tie things together as tightly as it could have.

Fans of romantic wartime fiction will enjoy the setting and spirit, but the book doesn’t quite deliver the emotional punch it aims for. It’s charming in pieces, but as a whole, it feels more like a patchwork than a tapestry.

** Thanks to NetGalley and Harper Collins Focus for a comp of the audiobook. All opinions are my own.

I ended up having to listen to this off Hoopla, because in order to listen on Netgalley you have to put your passcod (login name) which doesn't work.

In listening to it I enjoyed the first two stories, though I couldn't figure out why they kept me hanging at the end. It felt like they were left unfinished. The third story I had more trouble listening to, I think because the narrator but so much emphasis on the French words, it made it difficult for me to understand. The backstory of how the Liberty Scarf was designed and made, was interesting. Seeing that it was an important part of the stories was nice to see, to connect them together. Once the epilogue came, I was understanding why they main stories were "unfinished". I enjoyed how they all met at the park, that the designer saw how the scarf was an intricate part of the war.

I enjoy all these writers and so was excited to read "listen" to this book. I will definitely be picking up more by them soon.

Thank you for the ARC.

The Liberty Scarf weaves together three compelling stories set during the tumultuous years of World War I, each exploring themes of resilience, love, and the power of small acts of kindness. The authors masterfully craft characters across different settings—from wartime London to Maine and Belgium—whose lives intersect through their shared passion for hope and connection. Iris Braxton’s story in London is especially moving, capturing the spirit of a woman determined to pursue her dreams amidst the shadows of war. Her quiet hopefulness, stitched into each scarf, adds a poignant touch to her romance with Captain Rex Conrad. The narrative beautifully portrays the longing for normalcy and the courage to dream despite hardships. Meanwhile, Geneviève in Maine and Clara in Belgium bring depth and diversity to the collection. Geneviève’s journey as a French-Canadian immigrant navigating acceptance and identity resonates strongly, while Clara’s bond with Roman through music and the symbolic gift of a scarf highlight the enduring power of love and hope in the face of destruction. The stories are well-paced, rich with vivid descriptions, and infused with emotional depth. The authors do a wonderful job of balancing historical detail with heartfelt storytelling, making each character’s journey feel authentic and inspiring. Some plotlines are predictable, but the interwoven narratives and thematic threads elevate the overall reading experience. The Liberty Scarf is a beautifully crafted anthology that celebrates resilience, connection, and the enduring human spirit—perfect for fans of historical fiction with a touch of inspiration. A truly uplifting read that leaves you feeling hopeful and touched.

First book by this author and enjoyed this perspective and story very much. Three women, unknown to each other, who are connected by a scarf in its design bring strength and hope during WWI. Each woman’s story, told in three different parts, the epilogue pulled it all together for a satisfying ending. The authors’ combined talents depict three women protagonists lives that are intertwined through the tapestry of one amazing historical scarf that blends art, music, poetry and literature through history. These three women start as strangers with their own complex and complicated stories surrounding an artistic scarf created by one of the characters, who uses her imagination, color and threads to symbolize freedom, romance and liberty. This is such a memorable and thought-provoking story of sisterhood, hope, courage, war, sacrifice, survival, love and hope. Shows the strength of women during the war and how their contributions really assisted the efforts. Liked how they brought al the stories together. Thanks to Netgalley, the author, and publisher for the opportunity.

This book was absolutely beautiful! Heartbreaking and heart mending all in the same pages. 3 different stories all connected by a beautiful scarf during the horror of world war 1. The audiobook was phenomenal with multiple readers. The epilogue where all 3 stories intersected was my favorite part of the book. All 3 authors did an incredible job weaving their own stories while also connecting them to the others. Their author’s notes were also so helpful! I’m looking forward to reading more books by these authors in the future. Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this audiobook. All thoughts are my own.

The Liberty Scarf is a compelling World War I novel that intertwines the lives of three women, each connected by a single scarf symbolizing hope and resilience. The audiobook features narrators Ann Marie Gideon, Gary Furlong, Caroline Hewitt, and Saskia Maarleveld, who bring depth and authenticity to the characters. Their performances enhance the emotional impact of the women’s journeys, making the listening experience immersive and engaging. This audiobook is a testament to the strength of women during tumultuous times and is highly recommended for fans of historical fiction.