by Louisa Young

Within the space of the three page prologue I was drawn into the story, involved with the characters and already yearning to know how they fared through the five year nightmare that was World War I. Louisa Young has laid a thin, but highly polished, veneer of fiction over a wealth of well researched fact, and the result is a beautifully written, authentic story which holds you in its thrall from beginning to end. Her characters are fully fleshed out, warts and all, and between them they illuminate the day-to-day realism of the War, whether at home, or on the front line and whether fighting or helping or merely waiting. A major theme, with several parallels running through the novel, is of communication (or rather lack of) both on the war-front and the home-front. All the things unsaid, the people not visited, the emotions not expressed, the stiff upper lips, sometimes made me want to scream with frustration. Yet I wonder, would we cope any better now?

My favourite post-war quote, as the world is reeling with post-traumatic shock: “Well, the worst of it is over, but very deep bruising can take forever to come through.”

©Julia Welstead 2011