To be clear right away: The story is very much about the three hard-working women and their perspectives. The subtitle "a story of love and war" had me worried it might veer into a extrapolated romance novel of sorts. It is not that.

The writing is informed mostly by a trove of letters written by the three women. All three were not common political participants, so their letters have "human" observations about the conference. The author doesn't elaborate or add anything more than what is known, which is great, but also means that the writing is dry at times. The overall setup isn't a great read.

The part that that got me thinking the most, was everything that happened after the conference as the war ended. Seeing the brutal mental impact that a long hard war had on the people who were involved, and this is only at the highest levels -- not soldiers , was shocking. There were numerous affairs, divorces, and suicides. People who were critical to supporting the cause were left without support after the war was over and the new administrations were in place. It seemed like much less of the "honorary positions" that support these people I'd expect to see today. War is hell in all the ways.

It's a darker overall story than the cover presents.