By 
Fleeting Dreams: World War I Love Letters: The Architect and the Librarianby Joan Fowle Miles is a celebration of love. Celebrate the love between a man and a woman even in the midst of the difficulties of separation, the devotion of a son to his father, the admiration for the wonders of this world that not even the fear of war can diminish, and loyalty that one feels. to your country. Through a series of royal letters written by his parents during World War I, Miles enables readers to discover the thoughts, ideals, and fears of the nation during this harrowing period in history.
There is much to admire in this collection of cards. The first is the enormous amount of work he must have put 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 glamorize the events that occurred. This is refreshing in an age where explosions, intrigue, danger, and sex are often exploited to create a more fascinating form of entertainment. Miles instead allows the card’s natural emotions to tell the story, thereby creating a truer account.
As admirable as these qualities are, there is a lot of editing work that must be done before this book is released to the public. Structurally, the book is relatively sound, except in several cases where entire sections of text are repeated. I am assuming this is due to copy and paste text without deleting the old text. There are also cases of possible missing text and incorrectly used font, which can confuse the reader, as the author has chosen to use the font as a way to distinguish what writing is being read. These problems could easily be solved with a good copyeditor, but the author must also make some creative editing decisions. While Miles was understandably dependent on his parents’ every word, there are many things in these letters that the average reader with no ties to the topics would find quite boring. Accounts of food that have been eaten or vague descriptions of buildings are simply not interesting to most readers. It would be beneficial for Miles to decide what story he hopes to convey from this collection and to cut out whatever is in these letters that is not necessary for the story. The same can be said of the historical anecdotes that he brings with the letters. While some are quite interesting, many simply distract from the lyrics rather than provide clarity. Some background information is needed, but it must be carefully chosen and researched so that it complements the lyrics rather than overshadows them.
I really believe that Fleeting dreams It has the potential to be an entertaining and educational read, but it just isn’t ready in its current form. I think readers who are interested in the WWI period as a whole will find this an interesting volume to peruse, but the average reader may want to expect a more condensed and modified account. I hope that Joan Fowle Miles continues to work on this book and that she has the opportunity to read a new addition in the future.