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Valour
Deeping's first novel based on WW I - a look into the carnage of trench warfare.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1934
8 people want to read
About the author
Warwick Deeping
185 books21 followersGeorge Warwick Deeping was a prolific novelist and short story writer, who is best known for his 1925 novel "Sorrell and Son."
Deeping was educated at Merchant Taylors' School, then Trinity College, Cambridge to study medicine and science, and then to Middlesex Hospital to finish his medical training. During the First World War, he served in the Royal Army Medical Corps. He later gave up his job as a doctor to become a full-time writer.
Deeping's early work was primarily historical romances. His later novels can be seen as attempts at keeping alive the spirit of the Edwardian age. He was one of the best selling authors of the 1920s and 1930s, with seven of his novels making the best-seller list. His short fiction also appeared in several US magazines, including the Saturday Evening Post and Adventure.
Deeping was educated at Merchant Taylors' School, then Trinity College, Cambridge to study medicine and science, and then to Middlesex Hospital to finish his medical training. During the First World War, he served in the Royal Army Medical Corps. He later gave up his job as a doctor to become a full-time writer.
Deeping's early work was primarily historical romances. His later novels can be seen as attempts at keeping alive the spirit of the Edwardian age. He was one of the best selling authors of the 1920s and 1930s, with seven of his novels making the best-seller list. His short fiction also appeared in several US magazines, including the Saturday Evening Post and Adventure.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
January 18, 2022
3.5 stars
Pierce Hammersley is a gentleman officer embarking on this adventure called war. He's impetuous, quick tempered and a little prideful. So when he is thrown in to a stale little spot on the coast of Greece, he feels his time is wasted holding back a few yards of trench from the Turks when the "real action" is in France. To add to his frustration, Pierce develops a blinding hated for his commanding officer who is "trying to make a man of him" by giving him the dirtiest jobs. Eventually Pierce snaps and is sent home, disgraced.
What follows is Pierce's long journey back in becoming a "real man" that his loved ones can be proud of.
So I'm a little torn on this. I perhaps foolishly expected that the author would expand on the many forms that valour takes. And how standing up for ones beliefs and injustice etc could be it's own valour. But the author has an agenda and it's clear that conscientious objectors of any kind have no place in it. So we have to watch the main character learn humility and rejoin the merry fighting force where all seems just a little too... merry.
I'll be honest, the portion of the book set in Greece where Pierce is losing his mind in frustration and anger was far more believable to me. While he made some poor choices I found him to be realistically flawed.
By the second half of the novel, the main character and his fiance pretty much feel like every other couple Deeping creates. Just a little too pat. The brave wise woman who is the patient maker and deliverer of her man, and the man who learns quiet grace and the simple life.
I do love Deeping but he was a prolific writer who didn't change his formula too often so I have to space them out.
Pierce Hammersley is a gentleman officer embarking on this adventure called war. He's impetuous, quick tempered and a little prideful. So when he is thrown in to a stale little spot on the coast of Greece, he feels his time is wasted holding back a few yards of trench from the Turks when the "real action" is in France. To add to his frustration, Pierce develops a blinding hated for his commanding officer who is "trying to make a man of him" by giving him the dirtiest jobs. Eventually Pierce snaps and is sent home, disgraced.
What follows is Pierce's long journey back in becoming a "real man" that his loved ones can be proud of.
So I'm a little torn on this. I perhaps foolishly expected that the author would expand on the many forms that valour takes. And how standing up for ones beliefs and injustice etc could be it's own valour. But the author has an agenda and it's clear that conscientious objectors of any kind have no place in it. So we have to watch the main character learn humility and rejoin the merry fighting force where all seems just a little too... merry.
I'll be honest, the portion of the book set in Greece where Pierce is losing his mind in frustration and anger was far more believable to me. While he made some poor choices I found him to be realistically flawed.
By the second half of the novel, the main character and his fiance pretty much feel like every other couple Deeping creates. Just a little too pat. The brave wise woman who is the patient maker and deliverer of her man, and the man who learns quiet grace and the simple life.
I do love Deeping but he was a prolific writer who didn't change his formula too often so I have to space them out.
Displaying 1 of 1 review