Regardless of how much meticulous research or flowery prose an author pours into their work, novels filed under historical fiction are often only as strong as the characters and conflict driving the story. After all, without a strong narrative thread to offset those historical details, readers may as well turn their attention to traditional nonfiction fare. Jeffrey Lousteau is clearly aware of the importance of said balance, as his debut release, ALL WE HAVE TO BELIEVE IN, offers a ‘just right’ mix of history and fiction.
Set in post-WWI San Francisco, the novel opens with everyman Edward Dooley returning home to a hero’s welcome. Despite the fanfare and pageantry, it soon becomes apparent to Edward’s sweetheart that the man who returned is no longer the eager teen who left home years earlier. Disillusioned and emotionally scarred by his experience overseas, Edward struggles to find his place in an ever-evolving society, and his life quickly spirals out of control. Enter Angela Luchetti, a fiercely independent army nurse who almost immediately catches Edward’s eye. What follows is a ‘once in a lifetime’ love story set amid the chaotic backdrop of the roaring twenties. Along the way, the couple (and their families) face a myriad of challenges, from a largely-xenophopbic public to the increasingly complicated ties binding them to their respective families.
From a historical perspective, ALL WE HAVE TO BELIEVE IN offers an immersive snapshot of a bygone era. Be it the Spanish Flu, the Stock Market Crash, or even the onset of Prohibition, Lousteau cleverly utilizes a number of significant events as settings and plot devices. But the real feat here is how he integrates these historical bullet points into the lives of his characters. For instance, while WWI is all but recent history at the beginning of this story, the effects of its aftermath reverberate throughout the novel. Be it Edward’s journey from a young, cynical veteran to a resolved father of three or its impact on the country at large, Lousteau brilliantly illustrates the Great War’s lingering repercussions.
Unfortunately, there are moments where the story’s momentum is derailed by a deluge of details. There’s a fine line between immersive scene-setting and dry exposition, and Lousteau occasionally drifts from the former to the latter. Where forays into tangential minutiae are often a necessary evil during a novel’s opening chapters, they can quickly become a frustratingly needless detour, especially during a novel’s final act. Granted, the same critique could be leveled against any number of cherished twentieth-century writers—Thomas Wolfe immediately comes to mind—so while Lousteau’s writing style may be a bit out of step with the contemporary fray, it is not without precedent. Interestingly enough, for all of his ruminations on the past, Lousteau manages to draw some rather potent parallels to the present day. Intentional or not, his depictions of greed, trauma, and systematic racism are a sobering reminder of just how little society has changed in the past century.
History buffs may enjoy the extensive detail from cover to cover, but for everyone else, Jeffrey Lousteau’s ALL WE HAVE TO BELIEVE IN ultimately succeeds on the strength of its central characters and their enduring love.
~James Weiskittel for IndieReader