Another classic short story by Jerome K. Jerome, The Love of Ulrich Nebendahl is a mirthful then sobering story during the Franco-Prussian War of a non-traditional embodiment of "love." Poetic in both scope and style. (Goodreads)
Jerome Klapka Jerome (2 May 1859 – 14 June 1927) was an English writer and humorist, best known for the comic travelogue Three Men in a Boat (1889). Other works include the essay collections Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow (1886) and Second Thoughts of an Idle Fellow; Three Men on the Bummel, a sequel to Three Men in a Boat, and several other novels. (Wikipedia)