BOOK REVIEW: Band of Sisters: A Novel by Lauren Willig

 I received this book for free from Netgalley. That did not influence this review.

Band of Sisters: A Novel by Lauren Willig (subtitled The Women of Smith College Go to War) is a spellbinding World War I novel that focuses on the relief efforts of a small group of young women, graduates of Smith College, who travel to France to provide direct aid to villagers who have been devastated by the Germans. Women, children, and elderly men are living in cellars or bombed-out villages, trying to eke out an existence close to the front lines. Most have lost family members. Schools are gone. Livelihoods are gone. They are forgotten people in the midst of the ongoing fighting.

These women come in, set up schools, build simple houses, feed people, and provide them with the means to begin to rebuild their lives. They bring hope to the hopeless. There are a couple of doctors, an agriculturist, and a few teachers but, for the most part, they learn on the job what they need to know to get things done.

They settle in Grecourt, a bombed-out village in close proximity to the front. They live in constant low-level danger until the Germans overrun the lines and things become suddenly very dangerous. The women from Smith College then help to evacuate the villagers one step ahead of the advancing enemy.

Although the characters are fictional, they are inspired by real-life people and the episodes depicted have their basis in real historical events.

The beauty in this novel is how the women come together as a cohesive unit despite personality conflicts, differing backgrounds, and differing goals. It’s common in war stories to see men bonding under duress, but camaraderie like this among women is less often showcased. These women are hard-working, brave, and devoted to their cause, but also flawed, at times insecure, and very human. The novel passes the Bechdel test with flying colors. Although a romance does develop, it doesn’t dominate the plot. 

Although fairly long at 524 pages, this is a quick-paced, engrossing read. Despite the horrors of war, which are not sugar-coated, it’s an uplifting tale.  Highly recommended. 

BOOK REVIEW: The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue

 Emma Donoghue writes beautiful novels with unforgettable characters of remarkable depth. But they are depressing books. The Pull of the Stars, the newest release is an immersive look into the life of a nurse in Dublin in 1918, during the Spanish flu epidemic, toward the end of World War I. (If you think things are bad now—and they are—these characters are going through worse.)

Julia Power is a single woman, turning thirty, living in a small apartment with her younger brother who returned from the war unable to speak. While he takes care of the home, she goes to work each day in the Maternity/Fever ward of the hospital. This is a tiny closet of a room for the lying-in of pregnant patients with the flu.

There are not enough doctors or nurses to go around, and Julia finds herself placed in charge of the ward when one of her superiors sickens. She has three critical patients to care for over the course of her next twelve-hour shift. When she asks for help, a volunteer is assigned to her, Bridie Sweeney, a twenty-two-ish young woman who was orphaned and brought up by nuns. Remarkably, the girl is good-natured and thrilled with the chance to work in the maternity ward. She learns quickly, doesn’t complain, and is gentle with the patients. Julia finds herself fascinated by and drawn to Bridie. Over the course of the next couple of days, Julia and the reader learn what a horrific upbringing Bridie had.

Obstetricians are also in short supply. A woman doctor has been hired to help out, Dr. Kathleen Lynn. Dr. Lynn is a Rebel who took place in an armed uprising against the government months earlier and spent time in prison. Rumored to be continuing her rebellious activities, Dr. Lynn is being hunted by the police. Julia is on the opposite side of the political spectrum. All she knows is that the uprising was violent and people died. However, after talking with Dr. Lynn, she comes to understand the viewpoint of the Rebels. While she does not condone the violence, she admires Dr. Lynn’s courage and agrees with the goals.

As Julia cares for the changing roster of patients in her care, she calls upon every bit of experience she’s had and knowledge she has gleaned from watching others, to save the few lives that she can. The descriptions of difficult labors and of some subsequent deaths are not for the faint-hearted. Donoghue does not shy away from graphic details. It makes for gripping, heart-wrenching reading.

It’s difficult to read yet another pandemic/plague book, one that is also saturated with economic injustice and political turmoil. There are a couple of bright spots and a hint of hopefulness, but The Pull of the Stars left me thinking, sadly, that we haven’t made much progress in the last one hundred years.

BOOK REVIEW: A Son at the Front by Edith Wharton

Edith Wharton is an extraordinary writer, best known for her novels of the New York “aristocracy” during the Gilded Age. However, she also wrote short stories, plays, nonfiction, and novels covering diverse subjects.

My most recent read is one of her lesser known books, a World War I novel, A Son at the Front.

The protagonist is John Campton, an expat American artist in Paris. A fairly self-centered, shallow man, he has, after a rocky start, become a sought-after portrait painter. Part of his rocky start included a failed marriage that produced a son, George. (Campton’s portrait of George as a boy was pivotal to his success.)

His wife remarried a very successful, wealthy businessman while Campton was still a struggling artist. George was largely raised and entirely supported by his mother and stepfather, a fact that Campton resents. However, now that George has grown to manhood, he and his father have become close. (Although maybe not as close as Campton believes.)  George is about to arrive in Paris and the two will embark on a vacation together.

That was the plan. Unfortunately, this is the eve of the beginning of the war. And, unfortunately, although Campton and his ex-wife are Americans, George was born in France. Almost immediately after George arrives, the borders are essentially closed and George, a French citizen, is called for military duty.

Thanks to the machinations and connections of three doting parents, George is assigned to a safe desk job away from the front. But the parents live in constant terror he will be reassigned. As the war gets underway and then drags on, and the casualties mount, Campton’s reactions to his son’s safety are conflicted. How can George be so content to remain behind the lines?

The novel is a beautifully written psychological study not only of the protagonist but of numerous people in his sphere. War effects everyone, the privileged and the poor. Some throw themselves into relief efforts. Some try to ignore the war and get on with life. And everyone loses loved ones.

The action is muted for a “war novel.” Yet the tension is palpable. Campton is a sympathetic if not particularly likeable character. Of course, it’s a tragic novel. How could it be otherwise? But Wharton writes masterful tragedy.

BOOK REVIEW: Beneath the Apple Leaves by Harmony Verna

I received this book for free from Netgalley. That did not influence my review.

I really enjoyed Harmony Verna’s first historical novel, Daughter of Australia, so I was pleased to have a chance to read her latest, Beneath the Apple Leaves.

The setting is now the farmlands of Pennsylvania outside of Pittsburgh, and the time-frame is WWI. Verna does a wonderful job of placing the characters (and the reader) into the scene.

The female protagonist is Lili Morton, an orphaned farm girl living with her older sister and brother-in-law. Her life has been a nightmare, with an abusive father (now dead), a brother-in-law who is just as bad if not worse, and a sister who is kind but addled from the trauma of trying to protect Lili. Nevertheless, Lili is generous, sweet, hard-working, and, by necessity, remarkably competent.

The male protagonist is Andrew Houghton, son of a coal miner who has promised his father (now dead in a mining accident) that he will do something else with his life–not throw it away in the mines. Sent to live with an aunt in Pittsburgh, Andrew first finds a job working for the railway with his uncle. But a horrible accident puts an end to that.

Andrew’s uncle is a good man, but life has beaten him down. Originally from Germany, with a last name of Kiser, this uncle (as well as the aunt and cousins) discover that the prejudices of their fellow Americans make it impossible to continue living in the city. They move to a rundown farm in the country, where life just keeps getting harder.

The one bright spot is that Andrew meets Lili. He adjusts to his new life with a calm, clear-eyed viewpoint and a steadiness that helps support his family when everything else falls apart around them. He and Lili make a perfect pair, although first they have to overcome misunderstandings and insecurities that keep them apart.

Like Daughter of Australia, Beneath the Apple Leaves is a sweeping novel that depicts good but troubled people struggling through adversity to ultimately find love and contentment. Historical fiction fans can dive in and enjoy.

BOOK REVIEW: The Summer Before the War by Helen Simonson

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Helen Simonson, author of the wonderful novel Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand, has a new book: The Summer Before the War. The novel follows several inhabitants of a small English town, Rye, in Sussex from just before the start of WWI until the war’s end.

The main protagonist is Beatrice Nash, an intelligent young woman of twenty-five, recently orphaned by the death of her father, a professor. Beatrice had spent her life following her father around and serving as his secretary. (Her mother was long dead.) He left her with an inheritance to be doled out in tiny increments until she married when she would receive the whole thing. Beatrice has no intention of marrying. So, to support herself, she takes a position as a Latin teacher in the Rye high school.

Apparently, it is unheard of to have a female teaching Latin at this level. But Beatrice is championed by one of the movers and shakers of Rye, Agatha Kent, who sees no reason why a qualified woman should not have the job. Agatha becomes one of Beatrice’s close friends and supporters. As a bonus, Agatha has two nephews, Hugh Grange and Daniel Bookham, who visit her frequently. Hugh is a kind-hearted gentlemanly sort who is in training to become a surgeon. Daniel is an exceptionally handsome snob who prides himself on his charm, and who is a poet-in-training. Hugh and Daniel are as close as brothers.

Beatrice has some trouble settling in as she meets the people of Rye, but with the support of Agatha and her extended family, she does get settled, despite the disadvantage of being female. Before things get too comfortable, the war breaks out.

There are essentially two things about the war that disrupt the town. The first is the arrival of several Belgian refugees. The second is that some of the town’s sons are bustled off to war. The rest of the townsfolk occupy themselves with various home front activities. And everyone worries about what will happen to Rye, to England, and to their loved ones.

This is a sweet story about small town dynamics and how people act at times of crisis. There is a love story—or two—central to the plot. The characters are well developed and, for the most part, sympathetic enough to make a reader care how the story will turn out. However, it’s a quiet book. I finished a couple days ago and was too busy to write my review immediately, and the book is already fading in my memory. The pace is steady but a bit slow, and the various scenarios play out in a rather predictable fashion (although there is a surprise at the end that I didn’t see coming). In the end, I enjoyed it but was not as wowed as I was by Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand.

BOOK REVIEW: Dead Wake. The Last Crossing of the Lusitania by Erik Larson

My history/historical fiction book group is meeting this weekend. Our choice was Dead Wake by Erik Larson. I’ve been curious to read this author so I was pleased with the pick.

Dead Wake is the story of the sinking of the Lusitania on May 7, 1915 by a German U-boat. Meticulously researched and reported in an organized, detailed fashion, the book sets the tragedy in historical context. By switching focus between the captains of the ship and the U-boat, interspersed with personal stories of passengers (survivors and victims), the narrative is humanized. Larson provides a good deal of backstory, yet the pace doesn’t lag. The sense of impending doom hangs over the first parts and, when the torpedo does hit the boat, the account is riveting and horrifying.

Much of the subtext of the story is exploring how much British Intelligence knew and, ultimately, how complicit they were in allowing the Germans to fire upon this enormous, celebrity ocean liner. The British were growing desperate for American intervention in the war. It would seem they possessed the means to prevent the deaths of more than 1000 civilians, but instead left things to chance–or even deliberately helped increase the likelihood of attack.

The more I read about WWI, the better I understand the enormity of the tragedy. Dead Wake presents yet another piece of the story and demonstrates again the evils of war.

BOOK REVIEW: Meadowlands by Elizabeth Jeffrey

Disclaimer: I received this book for free from Netgalley. This did not influence my review.

With the popularity of Downton Abbey, novels set in the time just before, during, and after WWI have seen an explosion in popularity. Or, at least, I’ve noticed a whole lot more of these novels on display and I’ve found myself picking up more and more of them.

WWI novels can deal with a variety of topics, not least of which is the war itself, but the most popular seem to be Downton Abbey-esque, using an Upstairs/Downstairs theme. They are inter-generational sagas set in grand English manors. The aristocracy have to deal not only with the war, but with the changes to their way of life. The lower classes have to deal with the war and with being poor and servile, but postwar changes bring them the possibility of upward mobility.

This all makes for interesting T.V. watching and for some fun novels. The latest one of these in my collection is Meadowlands by Elizabeth Jeffrey, to be released on April 1.

Meadowlands follows the fortunes of the Barsham family and their servant, Polly.

The novel has all the elements of these types of novels, both the typical characters and the usual plot points.

Sir George Barsham (father) is mostly absent, but he is a correct enough English gentleman. He spends his days in Parliament talking about the war with his cronies or with his mistress. (His marriage is not a happy one.) He treats his children with benign neglect. Lady Adelaide (mother) is a selfish, snobbish, demanding, and stupid woman with no understanding of politics who seems to not quite realize there is a war going on at all. Her children barely manage to put up with her, but she is mother, after all, so they laugh at her instead of arguing.

There are four children: two boys (twins) and two girls. Of the sons, one is bookish and a conscientious objector, who becomes a stretcher-bearer. The other is dashing and brave, who believes the Germans will be defeated easily. He joins the military and marches off to war. The eldest daughter, Gina, is beautiful and dutiful. She stays home and becomes involved with homefront causes. The younger is plump and frizzy-haired, but energetic. She zips off to become a nurse.

Polly is lady’s maid to Lady Adelaide and to the daughters. She also helps out around the house. And she helps Gina with her social work. (Gina’s main project is a soup kitchen for the local women who are (even more) impoverished because their husbands have gone off to war.) Polly is in love with the younger son, but knows she can do nothing but worship him from afar since his status puts him out of reach.

If you’ve read books in this genre before (or watched Downton Abbey), you can pretty much anticipate what will happen in this book. It’s short (224 pages) so it packs all its obligatory WWI drama into a rather compact structure, making each event seem a bit emotionally superficial. Each of the characters has a story, but only Polly and Gina are developed with any depth, so much of it has a rushed, glossed-over feel to it. Even Polly and Gina, although more fleshed out and very sympathetic, are somewhat one-dimensional.

This is a quick and easy book to read that does give the flavor of a Downton Abbey-like drama. However, I’ve found other books in this genre to be more engaging and more emotionally satisfying.

ESCAPE TO THE PAST WITH: The Wharf of Chartrons by Jean-Paul Malaval

Disclaimer: I received a free review copy from Netgalley. This did not influence my review.

The pile of books I want to read seems to grow by the day, so it isn’t as if I needed to go out of my way to find an entire category of books that I’ve been neglecting. But I do feel bad that I’m so limited to English-language writers. There is a whole world of wonderful literature out there that I just ignore. Every once in a while I read a translation of some old classic, but what about new books from other countries? What about new historical fiction that is being produced in...say...France? I’m completely missing out on all those books!

Well, not all those books. There is a company called Open Road Media that has a variety of digital media ventures, including foreign translations. One of their imprints is Publishers Square, which brings French authors to U.S. markets. Through Netgalley, I had the opportunity to read a translation of a French historical novel, and it was a treat.

The Wharf of Chartrons by Jean-Paul Malaval is set primarily in Bordeaux just before and during World War I. Two cousins, David Pierrebrune and Gaspard Madelbos, make the decision to break with their families, but not with family tradition, and set up a vineyard in Bordeaux. They come from a long line of winemakers in Chantegrêle. However, diseased vines and old family hatreds have poisoned that area. The young men want to start fresh.

It’s difficult to break into the wine-making business in Bordeaux, where large vintners are already established. It takes money and connections, things the two cousins are lacking. Except that they do know a wealthy, well-connected engineer named Geoffrey Castillard. Castillard is a ruthless businessman who made his fortune in railroads. Now he is interested in investing in wine. He fronts over half the money for the venture. Before they even start, control is taken out of the hands of the honest young wine makers. But maybe that’s for the best given their naivety?

The story follows the rise of their vineyard and the compromises the men make to succeed. Wine-making is not the pure venture they initially imagined. It’s a dirty business built on bribery, corruption and deceit. Gaspard becomes the protegé of the wheeler-dealer Castillard, and finds that he is adept at such business dealings himself. David is much more a man of the land. He stubbornly pretends not to know what is going on. Maybe he doesn’t. But he is very reliant on Gaspard’s salesmanship. And Gaspard relies on David to produce a fine quality wine.

As their winery develops, the two men eventually meet women and fall in love, but those relationships follow two very different courses.

The novel is rather oddly compelling. It is a very interesting look at the politics of turn-of-the-century wine-making in France. The novel paints a picture of corrupt practices and petty local politicians and a concern for profit above all else. The art of wine-making is somewhat left behind, but not the love of wine production.

It’s an interesting story and it held my interest because I wanted to see if they could make a success of the vineyard and how it would survive the economic changes brought on by the war. But it did read awkwardly for a novel. I’m not sure whether it was because it was a translation or whether it’s because the author started his writing career as a journalist, but the book has a very journalistic flavor. The narrator reports on the story. What happens to each of the characters is related in a flat almost monotone way, whether they are buying a piece of property, burying a parent, or consummating a long-desired adulterous affair. The characters seemed to be necessary props for the historical setting. The historical setting was very interesting, but I never did come around to caring about the characters. Usually historical novels work on me the other way around. I get emotionally invested in the characters even when the author doesn’t do a particularly good job of emphasizing the importance of the historical setting.

So if you’re interested in a different perspective on pre-WWI and WWI France or interested in the history of wine-making, particularly the business of French wines, have a look at The Wharf of Chartrons.

ESCAPE TO THE PAST WITH: Wake by Anna Hope

There are a great many historical novels that center around one war or another, for obvious reasons. Sometimes, if I read too many too close together, I get bogged down in the sameness of the awfulness (of war- not of the books). But other times, I read a book that manages to really move me, even though it retreads essentially the same paths and comes up with the same message.

I just finished Wake by Anna Hope, an extraordinary debut. The book is set in London in 1920 as the city is preparing to celebrate the two-year anniversary of Armistice Day. The celebration will include the burial of the Unknown Warrior. Scattered in short scenes throughout the novel are images of the exhuming of an anonymous corpse and its preparation for burial. The Unknown Warrior theme forms a framework for the novel that gives it more emotional heft. I’m surprised by how healing it felt (for me at the end of the book) to lay that unidentified but symbolic corpse to rest.

The novel takes place in the aftermath of the war, following three women for whom the war is not really over.

Evelyn lost her lover and she is unable to recover from the loss. She works in the government pensions office. Every day of her life is salt in the wound. Added onto that loss is that the one person she thought she could rely on, her younger brother, returned from the war changed. Though outwardly charming as ever to others, he is nastier to her. He drinks and parties too much. She doesn’t understand why he isn’t at all bothered by what has destroyed so many others.

Hettie is a young dance instructress at a jazz club. She yearns for freedom and a life of her own, but she has to help support her mother and her brother, who has come home from the war shell-shocked and unable to work. One night, dancing, she meets a handsome, wealthy stranger who seems to promise her the excitement and freedom she craves, but he, too, has been touched by the war.

Finally, there is Ada, who has lost her only son. She received only a brief letter from the war office informing her that Michael was dead, but nothing to indicate when, or how, or where his body was buried. For a long time, Ada couldn’t accept his death. Even now, she sees his ghost.

These women’s stories are beautifully told. In small flashes, some of the horror of World War I slips in, but this is more about the lingering afteraffects of the war. The losses were permanent. People had to learn to live with their loss. And in this affecting novel, time and support help these women to learn how it will be possible for them to live on.

Check out all the historical novels being read by participants of the Historical Fiction Challenge hosted by Historical Tapestries. There's still time to join up!

ESCAPE TO THE PAST WITH: Letters from Skye by Jessica Brockmole

I’ve been eager to get my hands on Letters from Skye by Jessica Brockmole. It’s an epistolary novel and I love that format. It’s set in Scotland, in Edinburgh and on the remote Island of Skye, and I guess also in Illinois, although the setting of the male protagonist didn’t make as much of an impression on me. Most of the story takes place during WWI, but it begins during WWII, and then unfolds with flashbacks.

I’m making it sound more confusing than it is.

Elspeth Dunn is a poet in her mid-twenties living on Skye who receives a fan letter from a twenty-one year old college man, David Graham, living in Illinois. They strike up a flirtatious correspondence that results in their falling in love, despite the fact that Elspeth is married. When WWI begins, Elspeth’s husband goes off to join the fighting. Soon after, David volunteers as an ambulance driver. Elspeth and David meet for the first time and consummate their emotional affair. Elspeth now has a husband and a lover to worry about at the front.

In addition to the letters between Elspeth and David, there are also letters set during WWII between Elspeth and her daughter, Margaret, and between Margaret and her beau, Paul. Elspeth is concerned that the relationship between Margaret and Paul is progressing too quickly. Then a bomb drops, rattling Elspeth’s home and exposing Elspeth’s hidden letters. Margaret finds one of them, but before she can get any explanation, her mother disappears. Margaret, who remembers nothing about her father and knows nothing about her mother’s past, recognizes that the letters must hold the key.

The stories unfold simultaneously, with chapters shifting back and forth in time. Both Elspeth and David’s relationship and Margaret’s search for answers about the past are engaging narratives, and I didn’t want to put the book down. It’s nicely descriptive of the tension of wartime romance.

Still, when all was said and done, I felt sorry for Elspeth’s husband. And I couldn’t help but wonder why it was somehow OK for Elspeth to have an emotional affair because she used snail mail. If she and Davey had been interacting through Facebook or gmail, it would seem much more tawdry than their poignant, witty, captivating letters. So, as much as I liked the book, it nagged at me that I was rooting for this relationship. I had a mental image of Ann Landers interjecting a letter at the beginning of Elspeth’s story, suggesting that she cease writing to her American stranger and rather focus on rekindling the romance with her husband. Ann would suggest that they get some counseling. The reaction is anachronistic, of course. But if, by today’s moral standards, one should frown on online cheating on one’s spouse, why is it acceptable to consider snail-mail cheating on one’s spouse in 1912 the start of a beautiful love story? And yet, the love story did tug at the heart strings.

If you enjoy epistolary novels and wartime romances, Letters from Skye fits the bill. There is love, friendship, family drama and moral dilemma enough to keep you turning the pages. And then there are questions to think about after the last page is turned. It might make a good book club book.

I’m just going to keep going with the Historical Fiction Challenge, hosted by Historical Tapestry. And I have now finished the Library Book Challenge, hosted by Gina at Book Dragon’s Lair! This was a great challenge for me. It really helped me to use the resources of my wonderful local library more.

ESCAPE TO THE PAST WITH: The Light Between Oceans by M. L. Stedman

The Light Between Oceans by M. L. Stedman is another novel set in the aftermath of WWI, dealing with people who must move on with their lives while struggling with the losses of the war. The protagonists are Tom Sherbourne and his wife, Isabel.

Tom is a good man through and through who is suffering from survivor’s guilt after coming through four years of service on the Western Front. Not only that, but he’s carrying some pretty heavy baggage from a messed-up childhood. After the war, he took on the job of lighthouse keeper. Tom likes the solitude, rules, and routines–it’s therapeutic. He isn’t even daunted by a posting to a lighthouse as lonely as Janus Rock, an island off the Australian coast, where he is left without human contact for three month stretches at a time, relieved only by the quarterly arrival of a supply boat.

Nevertheless, in the small port town of Partageuse, the jumping off point for Janus, Tom meets a young woman named Isabelle Graysmark. She is lively and flirtatious. They hit it off from the start. Despite the limited time available for courtship, they commit to one another after a couple of letters and are soon wed.

Life on the island is idyllic in many ways, but not perfect. Tom is not a "sharer." Isabel is lonely. A baby would make everything better, but Isabel loses three pregnancies in fairly quick succession. She becomes angry and resentful. There isn’t anything Tom can do to help.

And then, one evening, just after Isabel has delivered a stillborn boy, a boat washes ashore. In it, there is a dead man and a healthy baby girl. Tom knows that it is his duty to signal to the mainland and make a report. Isabel convinces him to wait, just until morning. Morning stretches to the next day and the next. Isabel says the baby is a gift from God. The mother must be dead, drowned. They can’t send the baby off to an orphanage. The baby needs them. For Tom, rules are meant to be followed, but Isabel accuses him of heartlessness. Tom is anything but heartless.

This book is painful to read. It’s easy to understand the yearning and love behind the bad decisions made all around. And yet, the inevitable disaster looms from the minute they claim that baby as their own. It’s an interesting story, because there aren’t really any bad people. There are just people desperate enough to justify actions that are wrong as can be, and who are pitiful enough that it’s difficult to judge them too harshly–until you put yourself in the shoes of the person who was devastated by what they have done.

The Light Between Oceans is an emotionally gripping story. And the details of the life of a lighthouse keeper are fascinating.

I’m counting this as both a historical challenge book (Historical Tapestry hosts) and a library reading challenge book (hosted by Book Dragon’s Lair).

ESCAPE TO THE PAST WITH: The Passing Bells by Phillip Rock

Here’s something I really enjoy: good old-fashioned, multi-POV, epic historical fiction. It’s what I cut my teeth on. And even though I don’t read as much of it these days (it seems to have fallen out of fashion somewhat) when I do read one of these novels, I’m hooked.

I saw mention of The Passing Bells by Phillip Rock at Historical Tapestries, actually a guest post by The Savvy Reader, that talked about favorite WWI books. The Savvy Reader recommended the book for Downton Abbey fans. I haven’t seen the show but people have told me I would enjoy it. A book described as Downton Abbey-like sounded like the next best thing. My library had a copy so. . .

The Passing Bells is the story of the Greville family, including Anthony Greville who is the 9^th earl of Stanmore, his wife the countess, his two adult sons (Charles and William) and a daughter (Alexandra), friends of the family who are slightly lesser in rank-- Captain Fenton Wood-Lacy and Roger Wood-Lacy, an heiress whom Charles is being pushed to court, Winifred Sutton, and an exceptionally wealthy and gorgeous neighbor/childhood friend, Lydia Foxe. The boys are in love with Lydia, but her father, Archie Foxe is not a gentleman. (He’s a perfectly nice man, it’s just he’s made his money in trade and has anti-aristocratic political views.) There is also an American cousin of the Greville’s– Martin Rilke, who is a journalist come to England intent on a 6 week or so European tour. His plans are disrupted. And then there are numerous servants in the Greville’s household, Abingdon Pryory (misspelling intentional). The most significant of the servants are the chaffeur/mechanic, Jamie Ross, and an upstairs maid, Ivy Thraxton.

The novel introduces us to all these people, letting us know their backgrounds and their desires and what is keeping them from obtaining their desires. The rigid class system appears to be the driving force in each of their lives, whether they are reluctantly accepting of their positions or trying to clamber above their station (or marry below it.) The characters and their dilemmas are well-developed and were interesting enough to keep me reading, but the pace was pretty slow starting out. I had to keep reading because it’s the kind of book that if I put it down for too long, I might not have picked it back up--not at first. And yet, I didn't exactly want to put it down either. I was quietly sucked in.

This book has been around awhile. It’s copyright is 1978. It’s a WWI novel, but here’s the thing. It’s 433 pages long, and it wasn’t until page 108 that a passing reference to the assassination of the Archduke of Austria appeared. The war did not begin until page 150. Before the men rushed off to battle, the author makes certain you are emotionally invested in the characters. And not just in the characters, but in what is happening to the home front. You understand the way of life, warts and all. The amount of time spent on character development is well worth it.

Before the war, men are discussing the Serbia situation with little understanding and less interest. Once the war begins, they fight dutifully and patriotically, but there is little sense, from the novel at least, that winning will accomplish anything but the end of horrific, meaningless slaughter. In the meantime, the way of life that they knew was unraveling behind them.

With the beginning of the war, the pace of the narrative picks up. By then, I was fully committed to the characters and I was quite deeply immersed in the war-time plots. With so many characters to follow, it did have a bit of a soap opera quality, moving from one storyline to another. Yet their lives were intricately intertwined so the overall story flowed well. As the war draws to its close, the book also drew to its devastating end. I didn’t realize just how addicted I was until I found myself requesting Book Two in the Greville saga, Circles of Time from the library. I want to know how they (the ones left) move on after the war.

BOOK REVIEW: Waiting for Sunrise by William Boyd

When Waiting for Sunrise by William Boyd was released earlier this year, it received some very strong reviews, like this one from the NY Times.

The book is a historical thriller, a spy novel, set in 1913 and 1914 in Vienna and England with stops in France and Geneva. The protagonist, Lysander Rief, is an actor, which of course makes him a uniquely suitable spy. Even though I don’t usually pick up cloak-and-dagger espionage novels, I was drawn to this one by the historical setting and by the descriptions of the psychological intrigue.

The book opens with Lysander traveling to Vienna to consult with a psychiatrist. Psychiatry is in its infancy but Lysander has a disturbing problem of (naturally) a sexual nature that has made him desperate enough to leave his fiancée and his job to go seek a cure. While in Vienna he meets some interesting characters including Hettie Bull, a fascinating, beautiful young woman with whom he begins a torrid affair. The affair ends when her common-law husband discovers she is pregnant. Terrified, she accuses Lysander of rape and he is arrested.

Lysander cannot believe she would betray him. Things become even stranger when the Englishmen—military men—who are in charge of his case help him to escape rather than bring the case to trial. (How much of this is really happening as Lysander understands it and how much is contrived? He seems at once horribly naive and fortunately wily.)

For awhile, back in England, it fades into the past as a memory of a narrow escape, a lesson learned, although Lysander has trouble forgetting Hettie and the son he left behind. But when the war breaks out, people from Vienna begin to crowd into his present and make strange demands. Lysander is significantly in debt to the government for arranging his escape. The men who were so helpful before now have a job for him. They need him to identify a traitor who is passing information to the Germans. Before long, Lysander is playing secret agent, risking his life, and trying to decode who, if anyone, can be trusted.

Lysander Rief is not one of those compelling protagonists who emerge larger than life from one book to make you want to follow them through a series of detective/spy stories. He’s no hero. He thinks well on his feet and he is remorseful when he has to kill or inflict pain for his own self-preservation. He’s intelligent enough to piece together the clues and follow a trail. But other than that, he’s a fairly shallow character. He tends to lust after whatever woman is currently in front of him. Sometimes he justifies that lust with a pretense of deeper emotion but not always. And he bounces back and forth between the women in his life as a matter of convenience. After awhile, I lost interest in what was going on with Lysander’s personal life and read the book strictly for its spy storyline. Here is where it is well-worth the read.

The book is fast-paced and tightly plotted. We follow Lysander through many twists and find out several things are surprisingly related, but how? While some of the multi-layering seemed a bit over-the-top, this is something that often strikes me in these kinds of novels. It may be that I have too hard of a time buying in rather than that the plotting was actually farfetched. I’m probably too naive. I don’t want to believe things I read in the newspaper could be true either. All the loose ends did pull together to a satisfactory conclusion with just enough ambiguity to leave Lysander cynical about it all.

William Boyd has written a few critically well-received novels and Waiting for Sunrise has also generated some fine reviews. I recommend it particularly to historical fiction fans who like WWI fiction, thrillers, or books with a psychological twist to them.

This completes my historical fiction challenge 2012. Even so, I know I'll be reading more historial fiction throughout the rest of the year so I'll keep on counting. Maybe next year I'll set the bar a little higher. But I do have other challenges I need to work on so I'd better get to those next!

ESCAPE TO THE PAST WITH: The Invisible Wall: A Love Story That Broke Barriers by Harry Bernstein

Another genre I never read (except when I read it) is memoir. However, the book group I’ve been trying to get back to chose a memoir for its August selection. (Scheduling conflicts kept me from the meeting where Unbroken was discussed, so that book is still on my shelf, waiting to be read.)  The Invisible Wall: A Love Story That Broke Barriers by Harry Bernstein sounded lovely...and I really wanted to go to the meeting. So...memoir it is.

Harry Bernstein published this when he was in his nineties. It’s a look back at his childhood in a small mill town in Northern England in the years around WWI. What makes his situation unique is that one side of the street where he lives is Christian. Harry’s side of the street is Jewish. They are rigidly segregated by common consent.

The people of the town live in crushing poverty, and Harry’s family is among the poorest of the poor. He adores his mother, who does her best for the large brood. However, his father is a sulky, sullen alcoholic who terrorizes them all with his cruelty. Harry has two older sisters. Lily is ambitious, studious, and kind to Harry – his favorite sibling. His other sister, Rose, is mean-spirited and selfish, jealous of Lily, and resentful of their mother. He has brothers as well, whose presence in the book is more muted.

Throughout the book, Harry describes the struggles of the family, their bad times and the heartbreakingly-almost-good times. He rounds out the memoir with neighborhood stories, because despite the rigid separation, everyone knows everyone else’s business in that tiny community. The anecdotes make for a warm and interesting narrative. However, the focus whirls around Lily and a Christian neighbor, Arthur. Crisis erupts when the two fall in love.

This is a charming, well-written book that brings the reader into the home of this young Jewish boy in WWI era England. It’s a fascinating glimpse into a different mind-set in a different time.

ESCAPE TO THE PAST WITH: All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque

For the Back to the Classics Challenge, we were supposed to pick one book with a war time setting. I decided that I should take this as a true challenge and read a book about WWI—something way out of my comfort zone. It’s bothered me for awhile that I hadn’t read All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque. The book has been called by some "The Greatest War Novel of All Time." In fact, the praise is quoted (without attribution) on the cover of my copy. How have I gone for so long without reading it?

AQWF is narrated by the twenty-year-old German soldier Paul Bäumer. Along with several of his classmates, he enlisted in the army at the encouragement (or bullying insistence) of one of his school teachers. We follow Paul through about three years of war. He and his friends are sent to the front lines where they primarily fight in the trenches. The Germans are losing and the death toll is horrifically high. Paul and his comrades have little apparent interest in the war’s outcome; they want only to make it out alive. But slowly, inexorably, they die.

This is a very personal narrative, not a big picture of WWI. You don’t come away from it with a greater understanding of the causes of the war or the political maneuverings of the great men. We never learn the names of the leaders or generals. Those are not the things that interested Paul. This is the record of the daily struggle to survive the trenches. We watch a small group of young men move back and forth to the front line. The narrator does an extraordinary job describing the details of their struggles, from the joy in an extra ration of beans, to their (unsuccessful) schemes to rid themselves of lice and rats, to the way they tried to help the new recruits who were so poorly trained they fell in droves. But what stands out is the battle scenes. It is impossible to put oneself in the place of a twenty-year-old boy who has seen so much of death—slow agonizing death—as he drops to the ground while mortar fire explodes all around him. And yet the descriptions are so vivid you suffer for Paul. You can understand how he can be paralyzed with fear one moment and propelled to action the next. You can empathize with the way the men are forced to push aside their grief when one of their comrades dies. It is too overwhelming. Too frightening. There is nothing to be done for the dead. They have to concentrate their efforts on living.

This isn’t a depressing book. It is somehow beyond depressing because of its matter-of-fact realism. The novel’s message is stronger because it does not go into the big picture particulars of WWI. The trenches were horrible, but every war has its unique psychological horrors. By focusing so much on the individual soldier, this book shows the universal tragedy and waste of taking boys who are on the cusp of manhood, boys who should be about to begin their lives, and sending them instead to kill and to die.

This is a truly powerful book. The writing is so descriptive, so beautiful, you are right inside Paul’s head as he experiences the war. His thoughts run the gamut from simple and animalistic to profound. I’m hardly qualified to judge "the greatest war novel of all time" but I can recommend this classic highly. I won’t be forgetting Paul Bäumer anytime soon.