Upon a Wheel of Fire

by Paul Grieve

Hardcover in good condition. First edition. Signed by author on title page. Superficial marks and light scores on jacket. Sticker on rear of jacket. One or two closed tears on front spine side of jacket. Upper leading corners are nicked. Jacket and hardcover leading corners, edges and spine ends are bumped and worn. Page block is marked. Some pages are lightly bumped on leading corners. Pages are clean and text is clear throughout. Binding is sound. HCW

Genres: Historical Fiction

480 pages, Hardcover

First published March 10, 2013

Reviews

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

An epic tale of one man’s life through two world wars, described in intricate detail. The narrative carried me along and dealt with many tricky and difficult issues. I did find the story jumped around a bit and sometimes characters were introduced without explanation. The book graphically describes the horrors of war and the need for a pan-Europe organisation to prevent this happening again. It’s also a reminder of the evil that is potentially in all of us. I surprised myself, I didn’t think I could read a book of this size and style; concentration was needed but it was worth it.

[Christoph Fischer · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Upon a Wheel of Fire” by Paul Grieve is a thoughtful, era spanning epic novel that moved from WW1 through the interwar years to WW2 in Europe and beyond.

The main character, Yves Beauchamp, reflects back on his life with his story being carefully divided into moving and interesting, lengthy episodes. His life is a fascinating and exciting one: Trench warfare in France in 1917, his friendship with heroic Thompson in battle, his meetings with some of the peace negotiators at the Versailles treaty, his marital joys with a French nurse, his relationship with German war “friend” Werner (with his views on the war and Versailles) and much more.

The writing is historically sound and well researched and introduces some unusual and lesser known angles and perspectives on both wars and the period between. Grieve has created some impeccable characters. Katherine and Werner in particular transgress the usual stereotypes and wooden functionality that foreign characters in historical fiction so often are reduced to. Fortunately in this novel they tend to serve a lot more than the mere illustration of an outsider’s view or to aid the plot or a discussion. The fiction side of this novel is every bit as good as the historic angles. Definitely one of the better ones in the genre.

Reviewed for the Historical Novel Society Indie Reviews.

[Cliff · Rating 5 out of 5]

The story of one man's journey through the horrors of the 20th century from being a callow youth in the mud of the Battle of Cambrai to secret assignations in pre war Nazi Germany to fighting in East Africa in WW2. I had to google that almost forgotten theatre of war. The story is told to a third party as the protagonist lies dying in a hospice. That third party's current story forms a sub plot. In places the book is quite harrowing. It should be, IMO, required reading for the likes of Nigel Farage and his cohorts in UKIP. Incidentally Good Reads says this was published in 2010. My copy was in fact published in 1999. Edit GR says 2013.