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Summary
Summary
This new novel from Elizabeth Speller tells the poignant and redemptive tale of the tragedies of war, as lives cross, dreams are shattered, and futures altered as the hours pass on the first day of the Battle of the Somme.On July 1st, 1913, four very different men are leading four very different lives. Exactly three years later, it is just after seven in the morning, and there are a few seconds of peace as the guns on the Somme fall silent and larks soar across the battlefield, singing as they fly over the trenches. What follows is a day of catastrophe in which Allied casualties number almost one hundred thousand. A horror that would have been unimaginable in pre-war Europe and England becomes a day of reckoning, where their lives will change forever, for Frank, Benedict, Jean-Batiste, and Harry.Elizabeth Speller once again sublimely captures the dangerously romantic atmosphere of war-torn Europe in her latest novel that will leave critics and readers astounded.
Author Notes
Elizabeth Speller studied Classics at Cambridge University. She is the author of The Return of Captain John Emmett and The Strange Fate of Kitty Easton , both of which received stellar critical acclaim. She lives in England.
Reviews (2)
Publisher's Weekly Review
This well-told, well-plotted war epic from British novelist Speller (The Return of Captain John Emmett) tracks the life experiences of four disparate Allied soldiers fighting in the bloody Battle of the Somme. Jean-Baptiste Mallet is a French blacksmith apprentice who leaves his village for Paris; Benedict Chatto is a talented British music student and organist; Harry Sydenham is a British entrepreneur residing in New York City with his American wife, Marina; and the methodical Frank Stanton is a carpenter and coffin maker in London with an enthusiasm for racing bicycles. Each young man is swept into the First World War's maelstrom and serves in a different capacity: Frank's duty as a cyclist messenger is perhaps the most colorful and dangerous. Harry plans to join the American army later in the conflict before he reconsiders and follows his family's tradition of military service, enlisting as an officer. Benedict is commissioned as an artillery officer, and Jean-Baptiste is an infantry grunt manning the grim frontline trenches on the Somme. He is injured, transported to a field hospital, and spared any direct involvement when the offensive is launched. The four soldiers encounter each other on occasion, while the stark battlefield scenes evoke Hemingwayesque realism in Speller's unsentimental, always engaging literary war narrative. (Nov.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Library Journal Review
After publishing two well-received mysteries set just after World War I (The Return of Captain John Emmett; The Strange Fate of Kitty Easton), Speller sets her latest work during the war itself, taking the title from the first day of the Battle of the Somme, July 1, 1914-a day marked by catastrophic losses. The book follows the intersecting lives of four men, three English and one French, from the lead-up to the war until the fateful day of the battle. Speller has written a truly beautiful novel that deals frankly with the horrible realities of war while affirming the perseverance of love and compassion even in the most terrible of circumstances. Each of the four narrative threads is compelling, and the author manages the occasional intersections of the plotlines with a deft hand that keeps those intersections from feeling gimmicky or overly sentimental. VERDICT As unforgettable as Sebastian Faulks's Birdsong, this highly recommended title will be savored by historical fiction fans. It deserves a prominent spot in any collection of fiction about the Great War. (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.