Post of Honour

A Horseman Riding By #2

by R.F. Delderfield

The second book in R. F. Delderfield’s acclaimed A Horseman Riding By saga of twentieth-century England is a memorable slice of rural life, as one war gives way to the gathering storm clouds of the next

Through hard work and love of the land, Boer War vet Paul Craddock has transformed the sprawling West Country estate of Shallowford. With his wife and three children he enjoys a peaceful country life. But war has begun its inevitable march across England, and this remote corner of Devon cannot escape its cruel destruction. Young farmers of the village—barely men when they enlist—are dying in the field or coming home to a way of life that is rapidly disappearing. Yet as the Great War ends and another threatens to erupt, Craddock’s faith and the strength he derives from his family will sustain him and his beloved village through trying, tumultuous times.

Filled with vivid imagery and timeless emotion, this is the unforgettable story of a farming family and a vanishing way of life.

Post of Honour is the second novel in R. F. Delderfield’s A Horseman Riding By saga, which begins with Long Summer Day and continues with The Green Gauntlet.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Classics, Historical, War, British Literature, Literary Fiction

814 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1966

About the author

Ronald Frederick Delderfield was a popular English novelist and dramatist, many of whose works have been adapted for television and are still widely read.

Several of Delderfield's historical novels and series involve young men who return from war and lead lives in England that allow the author to portray the sweep of English history and delve deeply into social history from the Edwardian era to the early 1960s.

From Wikipedia

Reviews

[Dorcas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Whew, what a ride!

"Post of Honor" is part two in the 'Horseman Riding By' trilogy (The first being "Long Summer Day"). It follows along perfectly from book one with no gap of time and minimal re-hashing.*

So, where to start? In POH we have yet another epic, about 100 pages too long but once you've started, you simply have to read every word because the people have begun to mean something to you. Skimming is impermissible. It begins in 1914 with some looking back to 1912 to set the stage. WW1 takes up a large chunk of the book (as it should) but the results of said war are so huge that we're left reeling for the remainder.

So many people die ...SO so many. And because so many die, more characters are introduced (entire cast here is probably over 100 but thankfully we do have a character chart at the beginning for at least the main ones) and eventually it becomes impossible to develop each person fully; to me they started resembling mere seeds for future harvests. In saying that, I have got attached to one or two of the next generation and if Delderfield dares wipe them out in WW2 I'll personally throw the last book of the series at his gravestone.

So in book two the valley is struggling to come to terms with the results of a world war: decimated population, new attitudes, and industrial progress. A few of the farms become empty and rundown and Paul Craddock's own brood of children seem disinclined to follow in their father's footsteps. Can the future be staved off by one man's passion for the past? Read it for yourself to find out.

I have to be honest. This book is a little depressing. Aside from deaths, it's disappointing to see the Craddock's lack of connection with most of their own children who are left to be as silly as they please or fly the coop with a mere shrug of the shoulders. Because of some of the changes that come about with age and new generations, some readers may wish to read only book one in the series and just pretend they all live happily ever after. That's fine! For me, well I've just been dumped on the threshold of WW2 and for better or worse I have to see it out in "The Green Gauntlet".

CONTENT:
SEX: Behind closed doors but quite a lot of it. Sometimes it seemed like every inhabitant was promiscuous and to me that wasnt realistic. It felt more like 1966 (the date of publication) than 1914. Yes, it happened. But seriously, everyone? Barring the parson and one or two misfits, everyone is randy (even for some, after 6 kids and 30 years of marriage)? And everyone is openminded and nonjudgemental? Out of wedlock children are no big deal? Even 'respectables' can mess around in parked cars and remain respectable? No, I don't think so.
VIOLENCE: Wartime violence but not graphic at all
PROFANITY: Mainly D's and Bs.

MY RATING: PG-13
RECOMMENDED READING AUDIENCE: Adult

* (Strangely enough there was more back tracking in the second half of this, enough for me to wonder if "Post of Honor" was originally going to be two volumes (perhaps the first half tacked on to Long Summer Day and the second half the beginning of "Green Gauntlet", making two 900 page books instead of three at 670, 640 and 450. Hmmm I wonder...)

[Bettie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Opening: They were Squire Craddock's vintage years, the brief, crowded period beginning immediately after the fillip given to the Sorrel Valley by the 1911 Coronation Jubilee, and moving on into the blazing summer of 1914 that, on looking back a little later, seemed as remote as the Middle Ages.

The first, book covered coronation to coronation, 1902-1911, Edward VII - George V. The sleepy Devon valley gradually awoke to encroaching modern times - motorcars, changing fashions and the suffragist movement.







See more: Soldiers and Suffragettes: The photography of Christina Broom

TR God Is an Englishman (Swann Saga, #1)
3* To Serve Them All My Days
3* Diana

3.5* Long Summer Day
CR Post of Honour
TR The Green Gauntlet

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I listened to the audiobook (wonderfully narrated) and, although this horseman's journey is VERY long, it is a most captivating one, beautifully written. I personally found the regular recaps useful, because there are so many characters involved, but the reminiscences and summing up in the last chapter was perhaps unnecessary.

Basically, Squire Craddock and his Devonshire Shallowford estate from about 1914 to 1940... But I won't bore you with the storyline blurb - look at the other reviews here. Suffice to say this is really good historical fiction, and I'm looking forward to the 3rd in the Trilogy, "The Green Gauntlet", very much indeed.

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

So here I am, letting a full two years slip by since reading the first in the series. I did remember enough of Long Summer Day to feel comfortable, but Delderfield also reminds us enough of that one just in case I didn't. We're back with Paul Craddock and wife Claire at Shallowford estate.

Most of the first half of this novel is set during WWI. There are no battle scenes, but the reader is made aware of not only how the Devonshire participants survive (and sadly, who doesn't), but also how this part of England survived the war. As one who wants to know everything - yes, all aspects! - of this war, this telling of the home front was especially satisfying. The latter half of the novel is set in those 20 years between the world wars. It was a time of great change, both technological and also of societal change.

For those who need a lot of action, this will not be of interest. I do like action and certainly enjoy thrillers. I also very much like the occasional respite and this is exactly that. The Sorrel Valley is a fictional place in Devonshire. There is a tremendous sense of place with this series. Paul goes by horseback visiting his farms and tenants and we get to see it as he sees it. There was another several pages where we visited places unseen by Paul. He padded through a forest of bluebells to the head of the slope and then, at a leap, dropped down into Derwent territory ... This was a several page section where we saw the landscape told from the point of view of Traveler, a fox so-named by the inhabitants because he had managed to elude them in several years of fox hunts.

Delderfield also does a superb job of characterization. Of course, Paul and Claire are fully fleshed. There are also characterizations of some of the minor characters, and by doing so he also lets us see the time in which this novel is set. Keith Horsey’s wooing of Rachel Eveleigh was progressing but at such a pedestrian pace that sometimes Rachel would lie awake for hours wondering how to bring him to the boil. ... Keith was clearly enslaved but was so humble about it that it had taken him nearly twelve months (spaced by absences at Oxford) to reach the hand-holding stage.

I'm tempted to give this 5-stars. Perhaps I managed to pick it up at just the right time because it was certainly what I needed just now. I will color in that 5th star, but not without saying I might be exaggerating. If I am, it is only a very small bit.

[Claude · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enjoyable sequel to A Horseman Riding By. I am definitely looking forward to The Green Gauntlet, third in the series.

[Bree (AnotherLookBook) · Rating 4 out of 5]

A continuation of a historical saga about an Englishman who buys an estate and finds fulfillment in looking after the land and its tenants during the first half of the 20th century. 1966.

Full review (and recommendations!) at Another look book

I read this and Long Summer day in the combined American edition. I LOVED Long Summer Day, although I felt like the end of it just sort of drifted off...But I loved the characters enough to jump right into Post of Honor (or, in my edition, the second half of the mega-book). And then WWI happened and everyone died...No joke!! In the span of 100 pages, it seemed like all of my favorite characters died. And they weren't all soldiers!

In addition to needing a better editor (insanely long paragraphs, confusing misuse of commas), there were too many typos in this edition. AND the book could have had about 200 pages chopped off the end. Maybe Delderfield could have put those 200 pages to better use by writing about the 1920s, instead of just skipping over them completely.

Still, I give it 4/5 stars because it was, all in all, good storytelling with lots of lovable characters. If I miss them too terribly much, I might eventually read The Green Gauntlet. But for now I've reached the Delderfield saturation point.

[Nooilforpacifists · Rating 2 out of 5]

Boring. Slowed to a crawl.

[Chrissie]

*****************************

A Horseman Riding By Series
*Long Summer Day 3 stars
*Post of Honor TBR
*The Green Gauntlet TBR

[CQM · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm very torn about this book. It's part two of three, it is 575 very small print pages and I don't particularly like the two lead characters. Add to that some of the dialogue is painful to read and you'd think I'd pack up early and read something I might enjoy.
There are plusses though. The setting, a valley of, partly, Delderfield's creation is wonderfully realised. I think I could probably find my way around the valley if you plonked me in the middle of it now. The supporting characters are mostly a likeable bunch, apart from the ones you aren't supposed to like and for some reason they drift off and aren't heard from again. The first book covered the time from the Boer War up until the rumblings of WWI, this one takes us through WWI and the Spanish Civil War right up to the opening months of WWII. As you might expect the bulk of this is about WWI, in fact, I wondered if any characters we'd come to know in the first volume would make it out of this one alive, actually very few did and mostly the ones you didn't want making it out.
So for all its faults I can't say I hate this book, it infuriated me a fair bit and occasionally almost made me retch a little (some of that dialogue...) but I'll soldier on with the final volume after a little palette cleansing diversion.

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book opens in 1911 and the first few chapters chart the disbelief of most of the people in the Sorrel Valley as Europe drifts into war.

As in the first book, Delderfield makes clever use of the gull's eye view to update the reader about the happenings around Shallowford.

The book not only deals with life on the home-front for those left behind. It is inter-woven with some detailed aspects of life for those away at war. A multitude of key facts about times, places and attitudes are explored. I feel that this adds a sense of time and place to the novel.

Much of the story then charts the changed and changing lives of those who survived the war.

The aspects of family life are beginning to drift towards the next generation for Paul and Claire Craddock. During this book they now have 6 children of their own plus Simon, from Paul's marriage to Grace.

I really liked the social history surrounding the inter-war years, with the inevitable drift towards the Second World War.

The book closes in May 1940, with an at times humorous look at life on the home front in the valley.

[Nancy Ellis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another wonderful Delderfield book! Book 2 of A Horseman Riding By brings us back to the Craddocks and their Westcountry neighbors as they experience the immense changes in their county, their country, and the whole world brought about by World War I and the period leading up to World War II. As always with his writing, he makes us feel as if we lived through it all and knew all the characters. It's almost disappointing to come to the end of the book, although now you can anticipate the third and final volume in the series. Absolutely one of my most favorite authors!!!!

[Sandy Millin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another masterpiece of saga writing, following on beautifully from the first book. The range of perspectives that Delderfield includes in his writing is fantastic. I have never seen the First World War written about in such an effective and universal way, truly reflecting the perspectives of everybody involved from the British and German fronts. The book made me laugh and cry at various points.
There are occasional slightly uncomfortable references to husbands hitting wives and I can't decide if this is the author trying to reflect the time the book is set in one I am sure it was much more common, or whether it's reflects the time it was written in. However you have to look quite carefully to notice these and I had to reread to decide if they were there or not. It is two or three sentences in a 600-page book, so I think it's okay.
The range of other issues which are sensitively covered more than makes up for this, including women's rights, the perils of farming, the advances of technology, how a country deals with and recovers from war and economic crisis, and much more besides. I would highly recommend this book to anybody looking for an insight into early 20th century rural life in England, or wanting to know how different people dealt with the huge amounts of change happening 100 years ago.

[D · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is the second volume in a trilogy describing the life around an 'estate' (containing several farms and lots of land) in the South of England. The trilogy apparently was a bestseller in the 1960's. I can understand that for the first volume but not for the second. Once, the first world war is finished, about halfway through the book, it becomes unbearably boring, predictable and full of repetitions. So, to prevent getting depressed, I had to give up reading at page 468 out of 660. Pity that I also bought the third volume which is probably full of more of the same unreadable dribble.

[Janice · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not as good as the first but I love finding a book series with sweeping multigenerational story lines.

[D.w. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book takes a look at the years of the Great War to the Second War. It is dense and with the previous book and perhaps as a show of the times in which it was written, Delderfield takes on a long journey.

The faults of the first book, changing speakers in one paragraph of dialogue are here in the second. Changing points of view, and often undimensional characters as well. We see the world mostly through the eyes of the Squire, Paul Craddock, but the man seems to walk around in a stupor. He is unconnected to all his children and does not really seem to care about any. He cares more about farm prices then about anything else.

Perhaps this is indicative of being British. His children are an afterthought, and they are an afterthought of the writer as well. A dynasty is here and it is ignored. We of course only see the world through our own eyes, but it would be nice to have tried to show how another generation does not see the world change so much as they see a place to participate.

It is age that shows us that things have changed, and the lead character ends this book shortly after sixty. That he leads a bucolic life might allow us to believe that the entire roaring twenties did not take place. Since we go from the Armistice to the Crash in a blink of an eye.

And then luckily for our hero, he is tipped off that Herr Hitler is more than a little foolish man. It seems like a terrible plot device to have our hero be the only one ready for the Second big show. Since of course the author knows it is coming. It would seem much nicer if he was caught up as all his tenants and friends were.

In all, we get a glimpse of some of the world of Geroge V. Not much. There is a great deal of thought about sex and how good one looks, and can one still have sex when you are on the down side of the time line. Far too much repetition here, and in other thoughts that pad the book out to almost six hundred pages. In the God is an Englishman series, as I recall, we see the world through the eyes of the next generation as well, and that gives us a glimpse to how the Country changed over the course of the Victorian era.

Here we hardly see that at all, and I think we would have had a much richer tale if we had.

[Sunhawk · Rating 5 out of 5]

The second book in the trilogy, and I tend to expect a let-down after the initial novel ...but not here! Don't start reading Delderfield with this book; there is a LOT of backwards reference to the people introduced in the first book, Long Summer Day. Start with Long Summer Day. I'm going to take a little break before reading the last book, The Green Gauntlet, because the characters and story are sufficiently memorable that I won't lose the thread, and these books are, for me, obsessively readable.
Like some of my other favorite stories of England -- the Shardlake series, for example -- these books tell England's greater story in miniature, through a farming community's life in Devonshire. It might as well be named "You Can't See London From Here" and while there's an undoubted time lag on many social and technical matters -- cars only become commonplace here in the 1920s and 30s -- there's enough cross-fertilization that the rise of greed and profiteering in The City is experienced here, and deprecated.
The characterization and relationships are drawn believably and sympathetically. The author has an amazing ear for local accents and patterns of speech. The books are satisfyingly long, and books one and two fit together as if they were one 1,500 page work. The 20th Century provides all the needed conflict and tension, and the people of the Valley work it out admirably.

[C · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't enjoy this as much as the first book; it covered too long a timespan in too short a book. (Not that it's a short book - but to cover the time it does, it needs to be longer). The first part, dealing with WWI, was fantastic, and threw up some really new and interesting perspectives, but after that it began to limp along. With all of the original cast fading out in various ways, the next generation were very hard to get to know and like. Rumble Potter is the only character I could name offhand, and even the author admitted defeat and had to keep reminding us that X was "son of so and so whose mother hand controversially married so and so". It was only references back to old storylines that let me vaguely keep up with who was who.

Paul's children are also pretty uniformly annoying - I'm with him that Mary is the only bearable one, probably because she's the only one given any character or purpose other than to be shunted around as a good plot point - and Claire doesn't come well out of this book. On the whole, I just found everything much more grating than in previous books. It was difficult to follow, difficult to like and difficult to finish, and had nothing on the first book.

[Emily · Rating 1 out of 5]

I hate these books. I've been trying to read his one for over a year at my grandma's behest, because she loves this trilogy, but today I decided I can take no more. I'm not finishing it.

Such a soap opera! The women are always horny and described in terms of their sexuality, and the men "discipline" their wives and daughters by spanking and kicking their fat backsides. (I'm not making this up.) Children are but an afterthought and mostly invisible. Farmers and soldiers alike feel free to take up with "sluts" if their wives aren't pleasing them enough, and guess what... The sluts love being sluts. Also, war is bad and a lot of innocent people die because of politicians. There, now you don't have to read this excessively long book full of progressive (sarcasm font) characters.

[Charlene Roberson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just LOVE this author - but his books are LONG and take FOREVER to finish!! I really did take 3 weeks to read this - and I was reading!! It is long, and I love to savor the language...........Delderfield has a way with words that you just don't find in modern authors.

This book begins where the first one left off and takes the valley through WWI and to the cusp of WWII. There have been many changes, but things still stay about the same, and that is how they like it!!

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can only give this one 3 stars. Too much anti-war preaching and not enough attention to the characters. Too many years were just skipped over. Small chidren from the end of book 1 are suddenly old enough to be marrying and going off to war.
Delderfield does keep true to his characters even when the pull bone-headed about faces in their midlife.

[Suzie Hoy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fabulous trilogy

This is the third time that I have read this trilogy and I am still captivated by the beauty and depth of the writing. The characters are totally real and I am now reading the third volume with anticipation. There are always tiny details that I may have missed previously.

[Michael Kennard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Part two of the trilogy A Horseman Riding By. Together with part one and part three my favourite book of all time. Greatest writer of the 20th Century

[Marlene · Rating 3 out of 5]

A detailed tour through World War I, and the ensuing years up to WWII as if affects a Devonshire land holding. Paul and his wife have more children and see sons and daughters of the Shallowford world come and go. Lots of land descriptions and allegories with animals as in the first novel. I was so bummed that one main character was killed off in the waning days of WWI. In fact hardly anybody survived so their are lots of new characters. Paul's children are a disappointment as is his wife, who is revealed as shallow, vain, unmotherly, and selfish. Very few people other than Paul love the land. Paul is almost seen as obsessed with it. I'm on to the 3rd novel as I must see this saga through since I've invested so much time in it.

[Ellie Kojan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I did not get World War burnout reading this second edition in The Horseman Riding By trilogy. The war scenes were also about the man on the ground and the support teams for the soldiers.

Life in the Squire's Valley carries on with all it's colourful, early 20th century characters. The modern world is held at bay. The love of couples living on the farms shine on similarly as in the first book. The respectful farming relationships with the Squire and village life are everpresent. The writing about the Squire's relationship with his wife were also very absorbing and satisfying.

The author's accounts of nature in the valley are beautiful. It's such a happy book instead of the usually grim classic novels. What a comforting read.

[Margaret Stranks · Rating 4 out of 5]

I carried on reading this second book in the trilogy, right after finishing the first book, and I plan to start the third tomorrow. I guess that tells you what I think of the books overall!

I love the descriptions of the Valley, and its inhabitants, and share the outlook and love of the countryside of the main character, Paul Craddock. It’s good, from time to time, to read books (or a series of books) which tell the story of a person and family over a spread of years. R F Delderfield covers the trivial, the exciting, the challenging, and the personal events of lives over decades, and I’m happy to be swept along by his writing. I daresay there are elements I could criticise, but I have no desire to nit-pick - I find the books a pleasure to read.

[barryid · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love historical fiction and I start thinking about 5 stars for every book I read. Taking off one star for the length and staggering detail. There is such a thing as too much and Delderfield has found the line and crosses at will. I took off another star for the extensive range of characters. Not all of them need to be detailed. Plus we do not have to be reminded that the Valley calls Maureen the Lady Doctor. We get it.

Overall, a finely-crafted book that could be called a "cozy" were it a mystery novel. We are not confronted with too much action, nor with the details of sexual encounters. We know about them, but we do not have to relive Dunkirk, to understand its impact.

[Ron Wroblewski · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Post of Honor" is book #2 of the "A Horseman Riding By" trilogy. It covers the period from the end of WWI to the beginning of WWII. It is a story that grows on you to the point where you identify with the main characters and ever have dreams about them. Life becomes so real that you feel you are right there in the English countryside running a tenant farm and looking after the tenant families. You feel their pains and celebrate their successes. Now onto book 3.

[John · Rating 2 out of 5]

Tedious

Loved the God is an Englishman series but almost fell asleep in this one. A cast of many mainly illiterate interbreeding Devon yokels is led by an almost Victorian but extremely fertile Squire.
I read to the end but skipped many pages of this overlong book just to find out what happened to the main characters, but in vain because the story fizzles out only to go to the next book which I won’t be reading.

[ian brooker · Rating 5 out of 5]

At least as good as part one

Delderfield has no equal to mind. This wonderful 3 part saga, of which this was part two, is the most enchanting tale I have ever encountered. The characters are so richly drawn that I feel joy for their successes, pain for their losses and anxiety when their horizons seem bleak; and that is no exaggeration. Looking forward with unconstrained excitment to the final chapter.

[Kate Millin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book takes the story of Paul and Claire Craddock from just before the Great War to the first year of the Second World War. It is a time of great change for their family and the estate they so lovingly manage. The strength of their local friend and colleagues in coping with the war and its consequences come through in the writing.