A Son of War

The Soldier's Return #2

by Melvyn Bragg

Longlisted for the Booker Prize 'Deeply humane and acutely truthful' Peter Kemp, Sunday Times After the upheavals of the Second World War, the Richardson family -- Sam, Ellen and their young son Joe -- settle back to working-class life in the Cumbrian town of Wigton. Yet for them, as for so many, life will never be the same again. As the old order begins to be challenged and new vistas open, Sam and Ellen forge their future together with differing needs and desires - and conflicting expectations of Joe, who grows up with his own demons to confront. 'It is as if these were the novels he was always waiting to write...He catches brilliantly the volatility of emotions -- how happiness can curdle, anger flare, guilt build into terrror.' Nicci Gerrard, Observer 'A novel about being alive, the kind of slice-of-life novel that everyone feels they have inside them but few could write' Brandon Robshaw, Independent on Sunday 'This sequel to The Soldier's Return -- widely acclaimed as Melvyn Bragg's best novel -- is every bit as convincing and enjoyable ...This seems likely to become not only an outstandingly good series but one of the finest and most authentic records of the changes in English society, life and manners since the Second World War' Allan Massie, Scotsman 'Shot through with blazing integrity and authenticity' Val Hennessy, Daily Mail

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Literature, World War II, British Literature, Historical

426 pages, Paperback

First published June 21, 2001

About the author

Melvyn Bragg, Baron Bragg, FRSL, FRTS (born 6 October 1939) is an English author, broadcaster and media personality who, aside from his many literary endeavours, is perhaps most recognised for his work on The South Bank Show.

Bragg is a prolific novelist and writer of non-fiction, and has written a number of television and film screenplays. Some of his early television work was in collaboration with Ken Russell, for whom he wrote the biographical dramas The Debussy Film (1965) and Isadora Duncan, the Biggest Dancer in the World (1967), as well as Russell's film about Tchaikovsky, The Music Lovers (1970). He is president of the National Academy of Writing. His 2008 novel, Remember Me is a largely autobiographical story.

He is also a Vice President of the Friends of the British Library, a charity set up to provide funding support to the British Library.

Reviews

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

'A Son of War' is the second book in 'The Soldier's Return, quartet and picks up where the that book left off. Sam Richardson, recently returned from the 'forgotten war, in Burma and still nursing mental scars from his experiences in the jungle, is employed in the local paper factory. His wife, Ellen, cleans and they just about get by. Their son Joe is still struggling to get used to the return of his little remembered father and being ousted from his mother's bed.

Bored with the factory and disconcerted by a letter from Australia from his friend, Alex, Sam decides to take on the tenancy of a local pub, much against Ellen's reservations. Things are further complicated by the arrival of Colin, the half-brother Ellen did not even know existed, a ne'er-do-well who proceeds to sponge off the family. Meanwhile, Joe has his own struggles against a number of nameless fears.

"He was scared to go into his bedroom at night. He was scared to go past the shop windows. He was scared to bike out of the town alone... There were times when a sentimental song seeped through the floorboards from the floor below and he felt he might cry his heart out."

But Bragg also celebrates the heroism of ordinary people just trying to get on with life: Sam's old army pal Jackie, still struggling to cope with his war experiences, goes "on the tramp" leaving his stoical wife to bring up their children as best she can; Speed and his brother Alistair, growing up without a father figure on a collision course with borstal; simple Bella, dying of TB and pining for one last cuddle with Joe's cat Blackie; Sadie, Ellen's best friend, a nice person battered by her jealous husband. But some of the most enjoyable passages are those of a child's captivating impressions of small wonders: the Blackpool Illuminations, snow in the streets or a trip to the seaside.

Bragg's writing style is deeply evocative but unsentimental. He is particularly good at portraying the terrors of childhood but in this book the emphasis moves from Sam's struggles with his own war scars to those of Joe making it up a regular family saga and ultimately meant that I enjoyed it marginally less than I did the first one, probably because as a father and a veteran I found it easier to empathise with Sam. However, I do believe that you have to read the first book to really appreciate this one it is also very British in outlook.

[Elizabeth (Alaska) · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's been nearly 4 years since I read the first in this trilogy. Too long apparently. I remembered the earlier one as filled with pathos and I thought I had every right to expect more of the same. Either Bragg lost his way or I'm in a different place. It's more likely the latter I admit.

As to time period, this follows on the heels of The Soldier's Return. Sam Richardson has settled a bit after returning from Burma. We are told he still has the occasional nightmare, but we are only told that he experiences them. It might have been better had Bragg let the reader see that Sam was still a bit fragile. Ellen and Joe, his wife and son, continue to walk on eggshells, not yet knowing what to expect. Note the title, here, though. This is Joe's story.

Everything was unfamiliar to me. There was a communal outdoor lavatory, which Ellen cleaned. Eventually they move into council housing and are glad of it. I wondered how anyone could be happy moving into government housing. Joe is thrilled to be able to attend a cricket match. There were several pages of this and, since I know nothing of cricket - and don't care to learn - I just endured these pages. Joe is in the choir and takes piano lessons, but doesn't understand what 1-2-3 means when he is introduced to the waltz. I wondered how he could be familiar with music and not understand. Ellen and Joe go to Blackpool for the day and I didn't know why this would be anticipated.

This was just too British for me and I say that even though I've read quite a lot of English literature. A hundred pages from the end I wondered why I kept reading. So I started skimming because that far in, I just couldn't bring myself to abandon it. I have already acquired the third in the trilogy. It may be some time - if ever - before I read it. I had thought maybe this was 3-stars, but I can't even do that.

[Kingfan30 · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've not read the first one, and I'm not sure how this one ended up with me. If I'm honest, I wasn't keen on the writing style, it seemed to flit about a bit too much, maybe if I'd read the first one it may of helped. On the plus side it was a interesting look at how life changes after you've come back from war, although this was a more gentle version compared to some of the stories you hear of how people copped.

[Anne · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very slow reading. Life in a small town after World War II concentrating on lives of a family. This book just dragged on, and I was bored. Would not recommend unless you are a big Melvyn Bragg fan.

[WendyGradwell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I only realised this novel had a predecessor three-quarters the way through! No matter, this novel can stand on its own. Absolutely wonderful characters, the central one being young Joe whose father has just returned from Burma after the war has ended. It leads us through those post-war years as Joe experiences it: a northern working-class boy from Cumbria, so vivid and true-to-life ( I believe it’s semi-autobiographical ). What empathy Bragg has for his younger self! Reading Wizard, his agony and joy of being taken to the pictures to watch Snow White (agony of waiting for the day - joy of the spectacle and singing the songs); boxing heroes and day trips to Blackpool. The novel takes a darker turn as Joe reaches adolescence; it feels like the author has regressed completely to agonising times - a troubled youth struggling with night terrors. Loved it.

[Siobhan Markwell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really impressive evocation of time and place, the values of the WWII generation and their children who, for the first time, could dream of academic and cultural achievement. The rugged backdrop of 1940s Cumbria with its steely miners, labourers, boxers pigeon fanciers and budgie breeders back from the war and debating the big issues of the day. Was Churchill betrayed by an ungrateful nation. Is Nye Bevan a shady chancer or the hero of the hour? Should you find your place or know your place? How far do you stick with kin when they abuse your sense of obligation? The church still firmly front and centre of village life trying to be modern but upholding the old shackles of class, class, class and nudging Joe, our young protagonist, into poor mental health. Yes. Bragg disabuses us of the conceit that adolescent wellbeing crises are a 21st century phenomenon. Just brilliant. I'll read the first in the trilogy last and it won't make any difference to my enjoyment.

[Heidi Davenport · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bragg takes you to another time, another world. The return of Sam to a life after Burma and its harrowing experiences is slow and feels real.
The poetic and descriptive writing gives weight to Joe’s struggles with adolescence and puberty, you feel his fear, joy, excitement and confusion. Brings to life memories of bike rides, country lanes, taking risks, being alone in the dark and the vividness of imagination that is so acute in a teenager.
It is not a wild ride of a book; the pace is gentle and steady, the characters all feel real and relatable. More so to those of us who had family that made it back from the war, from Burma specifically, for me it gives an insight into a grandfather now passed and how his life must have been at points and the struggles he must also have faced.

[James Carrigy · Rating 4 out of 5]

8/10

Provides less obvious emotional arcs for its main characters than its predecessor, resulting in something that plays more like a a rose-tinted, impressionist, and (faintly) conservative paen to a bygone era. But, you know, it's a nice dream. Sure hope no one gets elected in 1979 who systematically destroys the ethos of this post-war consensus!

[Glass River]

When it came out in 2001, The Soldier’s Return was judged by knowing critics to be one of the best novels of the year. At the age of sixty-one, Bragg the novelist had, it seemed, found his subject: Melvyn Bragg. The story of Joe Richardson, born working class in Wigton, Cumbria, during the war, was manifestly drawn from the author’s own life. Trained as a historian, working as an arts journalist, with a Lakeland poet’s sensibility, Bragg (b. 1939, in Carlisle) clearly faced a dilemma as to which literary instrument he should choose for this song of himself. Bragg chose fiction. The Soldier’s Return (2000) would be the first in a quartet of novels, followed by A Son of War, Crossing the Lines (2003) and Remember Me (2008) bringing the Richards chronicle up to middle age.
The Soldier’s Return covers the first seven years of Joe’s life – the ‘war years’, in which the only child is in sole possession of his mother, before his father Sam comes back from Burma to reclaim his conjugal property and take charge of the infantile baggage that goes with it. This second instalment deals with Joe’s next seven years, through the eleven-plus exam which, when he passed it, opened the door to a new life. For me, and other contemporaries of Bragg, it is the densely reconstructed feel of the late 1940s in the novel that entrances. Bragg has an eerily perfect recall of the little world of his (decently) working-class childhood. Reading this novel, I hear again the omnipresent Light Programme wafting out ‘Give Me Five Minutes More’ and ‘Don’t Fence Me In’ on Two-Way Family Favourites, and programmes like Take It From Here and Much-Binding-in-the-Marsh (were they really as funny as I then thought?). Once more, the inner ear hears the lugubrious strains of Reginald Dixon at the theatre organ, Blackpool Tower, and the nose recalls the thrilling smell of Friday’s new delivery of the Wizard and Hotspur. I had, until Bragg opened the lower vaults of my memory bank, almost forgotten the country’s obsession, in 1946–7, with boxing (the glory when Freddie Mills beat Gus Lesnevich a year later!) and cricket (Compton and Edrich, the Middlesex twins, racking up unbelievable averages that baking summer). Smells and tastes of that distant time are evoked with the vividness of Proust’s madeleine: the odours of the outside lavatory numbed by the fumes of Capstan Full Strength (a brand that probably killed more English servicemen than the Wehrmacht); the slimy feel and pallid look of powdered egg; the cold smear of Brylcreem on the brow.
Like its predecessor, A Son of War moves between three centres of consciousness. Still dominant is Sam, the father who made his leap at the end of the first volume, jumping (like Lord Jim) from the train taking him to Australian ‘freedom’. Now he is truly returned, locked for the rest of his working life into a shift job at the local paper factory (unless the pools release him). Sam’s wife, Ellen, is sensitive and intuitive, in a Mrs Morel kind of way. But, increasingly, the centre of the narrative is Joe – the boy moving towards adolescence and his own dilemmas of freedom.
A Son of War ends with a Conradian moment of choice for Joe, symmetrical with that of his father seven years before. Shall he leave school at fifteen for a ‘good job’ in an office? Or should he stay on? Will he be true to his class? Or will he ‘aspire’, and join the upwardly mobile but deracinated ranks of scholarship boys whose only organic connection with their roots will be to write books about their childhoods, fifty years on? It’s a poignant, deeply felt novel. But only those of a certain age will feel it most deeply. Everyone will have a novel they are grateful that the author wrote. This is one of mine.

[Maureen J Sykes · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent read

I read this immediately after A Soldiers Return. It captures the time and it's characters so clearly. I remember that period myself and at times it was a walk down memory lane. The aftermath of the war from each characters experience and the social changes taking place are real and evoked many memories.

[Margaret · Rating 5 out of 5]

As enjoyable as the previous book, The Soldier’s Return. It’s like a love letter to your childhood and where you grew up, even though some of it must have been difficult to write about. A very special book.

[Lynda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Middling, average, I didn’t see this as others have said in reviews.
Sad true tale of how families had to begin their lives again after the head of the house returned home from war....

[Gwen Wilson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have not read The Soldier's Return. If I had, perhaps I would have rated this higher. As a standalone book, many times I had the sensation I was reading the author's childhood memoir. It is a beautifully written meander through reminiscences of boyhood to adolescence told in vignettes, and we get to know the characters who populate Joe's life, and their various challenges in coping with life after the war. Some sections, despite the wonderful prose, were so detailed they slowed the pace to a point where I may have put the book aside for another time, and I had to push myself to continue. Ultimately, we are introduced to an inner conflict that is never revealed, and then the book ends.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Whilst this was an excellently written book, as are all of the books that I have read by Melvyn Bragg, it didn't enthrall me. However, I did enjoy it and it was probably his excellent writing that kept me going. I hope there will be a sequel because it left a lot of loose ends by the time I finished. Joe, Sam's boy has a lot of troubles to conquer, still not too sure whether his problems are caused by his upbringing - Sam a scarred war veteran and Ellen his mother, who isn't sure of where she came from, or it's just a troubled lad in a small English town in the north. Perhaps it's a bit of both. Sam seems to have found peace at last in the Blackamoor pub and although the scars of war never go away, they are fading somewhat. I must re-read the prior book, The Soldier's Return as it has been some years since I read it and it will probably give me some insights into this book.

[Dale · Rating 4 out of 5]

#2 in this series; J. Thomas 2015 recommendation; 2nd in the series of three (3) from the English author; this one covering the years 1947-1954, where the son (Joe) of Sam & Ellen becomes (by American standards) a high school graduate in the end. The first part of the book is about Sam, a veteran who jumped off the train just prior to re-enlistment, “finds himself” by eventually buying a bar and moving the family overhead. The second half of the book, deals more with Joe’s adolescent struggles (there are many). The very last chapters deal with Ellen’s discovery of why Ellen’s father had left the family and Ellen’s undisclosed discovery of where her estranged father is buried (this part of Ellen’s history to the best of my recollection has not henceforth been developed). 2001 hardback gift for ’15 Christmas from our daughter; 426 pgs.; 4 out of 5 stars; finished Jan. 15, 2016/#5

[Kris McCracken · Rating 3 out of 5]

The second of the trilogy, it continues the tale of seemingly insignificant lives that encompasses the broader issues of faith, courage, endurance and aspiration. There is a shift in focus from the first book, away from Sam to his wife and son, with Bragg entering into the hearts and minds of his characters, exploring their milieu. For mine, it lacks the poignancy of the first book, perhaps as the pacing of the narrative is far more irregular than The Soldier's Return, this is perhaps understandable as the central focus becomes Joe (Sam's son) and his reflections upon his parents and their relationship. Yet it remains a warm and engaging book, telling a familiar take in a sympathetic, leisurely and believable manner. Very much recommended, essential if you have read the first.

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another excellent tale, this is the second book in the Richardson trilogy, following on from 'The Soldier's Return'. Sam Richardson is settling in to life back in the Cumbrian town of Wigton, having returned from fighting the Japanese in Burma in WW2. The book is a great tale of a family - Sam, his wife Ellen and son Joe - trying to re-establish themselves and their relationships. There are no murders, car crashes, villains etc., just a great tale of families coping with day-to-day situations in the late 1940s-early 1950s, told from the point of view of all three characters. Another great piece of writing from Mr Bragg - really enjoyed it - 8/10.

[Dora Okeyo · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked reading this book, and I will give two reasons why
1. Sam's boy- Joe- is quite the troublemaker- and you cannot help but wonder whether it is because his Father just returned from War- or his mother, Ellen, seems to be confused all the time and eager to please- but his adventures with Speed are quite interesting.
2. The ease of language makes this book quite interesting. You keep reading wondering what will become of Sam and his family.

One thing is for sure Sam is never the same- not after the war and nothing would erase the memories and his experience in the battlefield.

[Tito Quiling, Jr. · Rating 1 out of 5]

Having a decent amount of preference for wartime works, I thought that the first few chapters were still setting the mood, the tone, and the background of the narrative, but 10 chapters on and the story had moved only an eighth as I saw it. But I trudged on as the characters wove through one another's life in a sleepy town during the war. Its one of those books that I was glad to have finished, not because I enjoyed it, but leaving a title unfinished leaves a bad taste, and so I opted to continue all the way to the end, despite the long, dragging, storytelling.

[Random · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well written, but too much colloquial usage. Long and slow; not as interesting as the first book, The Soldier's Return. A strong point is that the central characters continue to doubt the pivotal decisions made at the end of the first book - a nice touch of realism rarely found in fiction. In following that reality too far, the author fails to resolve some of the inner conflicts that arise in this book (what's wrong with Joe) - not satisfying.

[Ciaran Mcfadden · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent book, but for me not as good as the first.
Well written, as one would expect from Melvyn Bragg, but tends to drag in places and at times it's hard to relate to some of the characters.
Worth reading and I'll probably buy the follow up.

[Annie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brilliant

[Joy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Second installment of a literary saga on post WWII; good, depressing

[Carl Smith-owens]

2003

[Colette Brennan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very enjoyable sequel following the lives of the Richardson family as they try to overcome the devastating effects of WW2 on their lives.

[Tim Corke · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Son of War is a heart on your sleeve-type novel. It's real life. It's full of warmth, worry, anxiety, hope, love, resignation, responsibility, youth, innocence, tough, concern and I could go on. It's one of the most honest books I've read for a while and found that it touched a nerve by articulating an emotion that I've felt and couldn't understand. Not sure entertaining is the right word but you'll enjoy this.