Field Service

by Robert Edric

In the aftermath of the bloodiest conflict the world has ever seen, a small contingent of battle-worn soldiers remains in Northern France. Captain James Reid and his compatriots are tasked with the identification and burial of innumerable corpses as they assimilate the events of the past four years.

The stark contrast between the realities of burying men in France and the reports of honouring the dead back in Britain is all too clear. But it is only when the daily routine is interrupted by a visit from two women, both seeking solace from their grief, that the men are forced to acknowledge the part they too have played.

With his trademark unerring precision and lacerating honesty, Robert Edric explores the emotional hinterland which lies behind the work done by the War Graves Commission in the wake of the First World War.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction

300 pages, Hardcover

First published July 16, 2015

About the author

Robert Edric (b. 1956) is the pseudonym of Gary Edric Armitage, a British novelist born in Sheffield.

Reviews

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best historical fiction provides a straight shot of how it feeling that non fiction can seldom replicate. Field Service is a wonderful example of this. Captain James Reid toils with his unwilling men to bury the dead from the recently ended Great War. For me the book was about grief. How do you mourn, how do you live afterwards, how did the society seek to address the aftermath of the carnage. This novel, unfettered by fact, but completely realistic, gave me the most depressing insight into these questions. An excellent, quiet but telling addendum to the horror.

[Liam Ostermann · Rating 5 out of 5]

There have been so many bad fiction books (never mind the non fiction ones) using the first world war as a convenient marketing device to tie in with various anniversaries that I approached this book with considerable caution. I cannot tell you how wrong I was. This is a superb novel, probably one of the finest I've read about grief, but also about war and memory and much else. I can not praise it enough - it is extraordinary and will stay with you for a long time after you finish the last page.

[Gary Bonn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bold and confident.
I just love it when a writer strikes out into uncharted territory. Edric hasn't ripped up the rule book - just improved it.
The setting came as a shock, then a wonderful surprise - a brave and successfully lateral move.
Characters and their interaction are very impressive; combined with the setting, these are the essence of the book.
Edric's subtle narrative tools are cleverly employed. They will be of interest to students of English and creative writing: some may find them inspirational. I particularly like the evocative, and sometimes charming, last lines of each chapter.
Editorial input is of a very high standard.
Take the plunge as Edric did: I can't imagine anyone not liking this book a lot.

[Roland Marchal · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this book was superb. Having visited the battlefields and cemeteries of N Europe I was spellbound by the detail of how these cemeteries came into being and the personnel involved. This book deals with the creation of a particular cemetery in N France following the 1st World War. It deals with the difficulties of logistics some of which are gruesome but essential and with the rank and file soldier/labourers who jus want to go home and who never envisioned being glorified grave diggers when they joined up. The characters within the book all come together to make a stunning background to a vey human and important part of our history.

[Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite enjoyed the story and found it informative in relation to events after The Great War, particularly in relation to the finding, identifying and burying of the bodies of the fallen and the preparation of cemeteries for the dead. Unfortunately, with a lot of promising story lines still 'active', the book suddenly ended. Most disappointing - 7/10.

[Baz · Rating 1 out of 5]

Couldn't get on with this book. I gave up before the end.

[Stewart · Rating 3 out of 5]

Robert Edric has almost thirty novels to his name, a couple of which have been long-listed for The Booker Prize, and yet I rarely see much chatter about him or his work. This is the first of his I’ve read, finally deciding to take it off my shelves; it was an unsolicited copy sent by the publisher ten years ago.

Field Service (2012) is an interesting side-step in the more trodden Great War stories; instead of trenches being dug, it’s cemeteries. Set two years after the war, and in northern France, the novel follows the activity of the men left behind to recovery and bury their fallen colleagues.

Chief among them is Captain Reid, war weary but with time still to serve. He’s a man in the middle, commanding many men, but commanded himself by those up the ladder. What’s crucial is that’s he’s boots on the ground; those above are desk jockeys. To him the dead are people with names; to his superiors, numbers.

The story, what there is anyway, sees the winding down of the cemetery, with Reid getting news that preparations are underway for the burial of some nurses. That they are women adds poignancy, but also allows pageantry as the powers intend to use this opportunity to control the narrative back home, far from the reality of mass graves.

What is noticeable about Edric’s approach to historical fiction here is how he captures the period without shoehorning in detail to pad or justify research. There’s no schematic minutiae of machinery; no excruciating period details. He’s rightly focused on his characters, observing their interactions and frustrations. And it’s very much a meditative affair as the action finished in 1918 and all that’s left is to contemplate what just happened and hope - with dramatic irony - that it never happens again.

[David Grieve · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderfully simple story of an ordinary man in extraordinary circumstances. Captain James Reid is tasked with the development of a war graves cemetery in northern France, two years after the end of WWI. He has a team of unwilling workers and a Sergeant who understands them better than Reid ever can. Colonel Wheeler, his superior, is a figure of ridicule and is portrayed as being uninterested in anything other than his own advancement.

All the characters are well drawn, both those that Reid likes or has sympathy for and those he doesn't. There are few grey areas in his opinions of people, although, as with everything they are slightly understated.

The story is beautifully written keeping an element of tension surrounding what needs to happen with the cemetery as well as a continuing sense of loss and tragedy. The dialogue has an edgy feel with non sequiturs, half sentences and people finishing each others sentences, wrongly.

All in all a beautifully written book with many of Edric's trademark features. He really does write historical fiction superbly well.

[Steve822 · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a good story but I just felt a bit disappointed at the end. I have never read a fictional tale regarding the burying of The Great War dead and commend the author for choosing that as a setting. I know it isn't a factual book but I wanted more detail of the processes involved and the effect it must have had carrying out such a grim task but that seemed to be missing. It was an abrupt ending, which didn't seem to bring a conclusion to the various plot strands. I know the author is prolific and highly thought of but I just feel saddened that he couldn't make more of such a unique subject matter.

[Asb · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Great War had ended two years ago so British soldiers might expect to be back home rebuilding their lives in Britain. Not so for many who were involved in the creation of military cemeteries in the fields of France and the burial of the remains of the fallen ones.
This story shows how it was for different characters - the one in charge of the labour who reports to seniors who are looking out for their own gain, - the workers, - the grieving women, - the French locals.
Well told and thought provoking.

[Liz Goodacre · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a supporter of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and a regular visitor to Brookwood in Surrey, this find in my library was a gem. A compassionate story of those doing the hard graft of finding, storing, transporting the dead soldiers to the planned cemeteries, the tensions between the military ranks, personal stories and the duty to the bereaved who visit or need solace at home. This was such a well balanced thought provoking novel based on facts, gentle and reassuring and educational too.

[Zarish Ali · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice story. It is a good example if Field services. Field services has become the need of time. For these services CRM (Customer Management Software) is developed which is very helpful for maintaining the database of customers. Maintaining a customer database is a daunting task. Updating, actualizing, eliminating double data, all these cause nothing but a headache. Consider the customer management feature as your magic pill. well a good story line.

[Kay · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novel is set at the end of the First World War when the War Graves Commission was organising the identification of bodies and establishment of graveyards for the soldiers and, in this case, for some of the nurses. The description of the morale of the men, officers and local residents is really well done. Definitely a worthwhile read.

[Teresa · Rating 3 out of 5]

The creation of the War Graves sites and how the work was done was something I knew very little about, so that was the main interest of this book. Unfortunately, there is little else to commend it. There is no plot to speak of. The characters fill the usual WW1 stereotypes: war-weary captains, first rate, working class sergeants, and the top brass are useless but ambitious desk jockeys.

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting subject, but I found the relationships between the officers difficult to understand. I kept thinking this would make a good movie as there could be better displays of the tension between the men.
Historical this is well worth reading.

[Glesh Clown · Rating 5 out of 5]

great book, I love that it explains in such detail the business functions where they involve the management and coordination of service and support activities for clients in their own facilities or in remote locations, it explains it in great detail, I totally recommend it

[John Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

The novel was written with great experience and I have heard of this story a long time ago in the time of the first world war I just wish we don't experience such again [url=https://fieldcomplete.com/features/fi... can check this out it can help you understand more as well.

[Alexandre · Rating 3 out of 5]

Un excellent reflet de la réalité post-première guerre mondiale. Cependant, l'histoire ne semble mener nul part...! C'est bien écrit, mais ça manque de contenu.

[DrMama · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting (if painful/macabre to some) novel about the necessary identification and burial of soldiers' bodies from WWI. Shows how the vast 'Never Again' cemetaries of France etc. came into being, as well as highlighting the unforgiving, yet heroic task of searching for, receiving, checking, burying and honouring all the known, unknown and lost solderies of the Great... war. I'm not normally keen on Edric's work, but impressed with this. Read 2022.

[ItchyFeetReader · Rating 4 out of 5]

“We bear that sorry weight. And who knows, it might only get lighter by a solitary ounce every passing year, but we still go on bearing it”

This is not a fast paced novel by any stretch of the imagination. However it is one filled with rich characters and strong sense of place. Together these components made for an evocative and moving story of both war and the pain of making the peace that stayed with me after completing the book.

Plot in a Nutshell
The story opens in 1920 and follows Lieutenant Alexander Lucas, Captain James Reid and their men who have the unenviable task of locating and identifying British war dead and the transfer and burial of those dead in what will become one of many War Grave sites. The story is driven by a number of events. The arrival of 2 women at Morlancourt – one a young woman seeking her fiancé’s grave and the second an older experienced nurse looking to oversee the internment of 24 nurses killed during the war. Against this backdrop we also see Reid and Lucas struggle with being asked to overlook what appears to be the identification of a war crime site and them come to terms with the burial of a young soldier executed for cowardice. The culmination of the story is a ceremony put together for dignitaries and journalists which offers a sharp comparison with the reality of the work being undertaken

Thoughts
I have been to France and also Belgium to visit a number of the war graves and memorials (French, UK and Commonwealth as well as German) scattered across the landscape and on each visit have found myself very moved. I had never however given a great deal of thought to how they were created and the effort involved. Nor had it occurred to me that like Reid, Lucas and Drake much of this effort would have been undertaken by soldiers not demobbed at the end of the War and as such living in a sort of limbo continuing in France. Edric captures this sense of limbo incredibly well – perhaps because the novel is not fast paced or full of complex plot and story lines but rather focuses predominantly on the ordinary routine of the men with only small every day interruptions.
Both Reid and Lucas are well drawn and realistic characters. Both have fought during the War before their current postings although it is clear both have been impacted in very different ways. I however particularly enjoyed the interactions between both men and a cast of secondary characters. I found many of Reid and Beniot scenes, the French station master – struggling to come to terms with the death of his son and the changes to his village, particularly moving.
There is something a little stereotypical in the characterisation of Wheeler, Reid and Lucas’ commanding officer who is shown to be disconnected with the work his men are undertaking heavily political and bureaucratic. Guthrie an army chaplain who appears midway through the story is also cut from the same cloth although both men are used to great effect to create and underline a sense that for our main characters the War is yet to really end.
Anything but stereotypical is the inclusion of Caroline Mortimer the nursing sister who enters the story awaiting the arrival of the bodies of a number of female nursing casualties. I did not see Caroline as a love interest at all but rather another clever and well researched way to highlight the impact of the War across society where women are not only impacted by their losses at home but also through their more active involvement in theatres of war.

[Mdaly · Rating 4 out of 5]

A slow burner of a novel that I found engrossing because of its treatment of the subject matter, the post World War I burial of the dead soldiers. There are no histrionics, no major plot twists, no great denouement but a well written story about men tasked with a strange duty.
As someone who has visited First World War cemeteries in Northern France and Belgium, I had never thought about how they actually ended up as they were, where they were, or the politics, sensitivities and subterfuge that accompanied the task.
Edric seems to capture the atmosphere of the times very well, he doesn't force more 21st century notions in on the characters or create stereotypes. Although I did find the depiction of the chaplain Guthrie to be rather one-dimensional. He seems to have stepped out of an older victorian novel as a priggish self-important pompous parson. The animosity between Guthrie, Reid and Lucas isn't properly explained. It appears that all the main protagonists are atheists,this seems to be accepted without a word. Is this because of what they have witnessed or do they have a particular problem with the role of the clergy during the Great War. This wasn't explained and seems a touch 'modern'. Apart from that I found it a great read, although I was expecting a stronger ending.

[Michael Davies · Rating 3 out of 5]

A slow moving novel, set in in1920 and centering on the work of the War Graves Commission, responsible for the the recovery, identification and burial of countless corpses from the killing grounds of Northern France. In particular the book follows Captain James Reid, officer in charge at Morlancourt, Departement du Somme as he goes about the melancholy task of receiving and burying the bodies brought in virtually daily by a small, slow moving train from Amiens or Peronne. There is no great storyline in the novel, which deals mainly with the mundane and frequently frustrating minutiae of everyday life for men who almost all would prefer to be back home trying to reintegrate into normal life. Reid himself feels a pawn in a much bigger game as those above him manoeuvre for their own glory and advancement whilst still acknowledging the gravity of the job he is doing. There are hints of a cover - up when a burnt out building unearths a number of corpses with bullet wounds to the back of their heads and a suggestion of a possible love interest with Caroline Mortimer, a former nursing sister come to attend the burial of over 20 nurses killed in various field hospitals, but none of the plot strands are explored in great detail and at the end of the book we are no wiser as to the ultimate fate of any of the main characters. Yet for all that this book rather grew on me. It's very slowness reflected well the sombre and painstaking work involved in identifying and burying bodies years on from the battles in which they fell, and occasional tales of horror and grief almost casually related by the various characters reminds us of what those battles consisted. An absorbing and contemplative read rather than an exciting one, then.

[Lesley · Rating 4 out of 5]

The contrast between the reality - burial of nurses, executed soldiers, soldiers who appear to have been the victims of war crimes - and the presentation - pristine rows of graves belying the effort needed to keep the water out and avoid these new trenches becoming waterlogged - is very interesting. This is mirrored in the contrast between the desperation of the men undertaking the work, long after the War has ended and yet still serving and still unable to return home, and the arrogance of the officer ranks seeking to capitalise on work they did not undertake to gain political advancement. Much of this is challenging about the kind of world being built post War, be that the serviceable horses shot rather than passed to peasant farmers, the return of battle fields to crop fields, the new battle faced to return to a "normal" life in Britain after all that has happened and all that has been seen, or the efforts of some to self promote while others fear what mankind will have become capable of, having engaged in the War to end all wars. The story does end abruptly, but this fits with the device of showing that the stories of these men did not end and tie up neatly with the Armistice. The question posed is, as they gather up the pieces and seek to bury the dead, how does life then go on? I really enjoyed this - lots of food for thought.

[Dorinda Balchin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novel is slow paced with a story which doesn’t seem to go anywhere, yet it is also very illuminating. We all know of the peace and tranquillity of the cemeteries in northern Europe where the dead of the First World War are laid to rest, but the work of the War Graves Commission which was responsible for these is rarely touched on. This novel tells us of the recovery of the bodies, the soldiers who, two years after the war had ended, were still not allowed to return home until their comrades had been laid to rest, the bereaved families who wanted to visit the last resting place of their loved ones, the laying to rest of those executed for cowardice, and the female nurses who never returned home.
In a way, the slow pace of the book reflects the weariness of the characters, their disappointment at the self-seeking of those in authority, the grief and slow coming to terms with their loss of those who made the pilgrimage to the battlefields. I would recommend this book for anyone who has an interest in the First World War and its aftermath.

[Jan · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting look at an overlooked historical niche - the clean up after World War I and the creation of the soldier's cemeteries in France. This novel is quietly contemplative, as suits the subject matter, and we are introduced to some interesting and complex characters. While I don't necessarily like all my loose ends tied up in neat bows, I do like there to a bit more surety about the futures of the characters offered by the author than I got here.

[Andrew McClarnon · Rating 3 out of 5]

A gentle, muted mood prevails as we lean over the shoulders of Captain Reid as he leads his small troop in the creation of one of the war grave cemetaries. He is tired, and has no time left for the whims and politicking of his commanding officers, a mood he shares with a colleague charged with the even grimmer task of recovering the war dead from the many ad hoc burial sites, doing their best to identify the victims. The events are mirrored by the weather, a perod of lovely summer weather becoming warmer and grittier, until a storm breaks. There is a lovely sense of the time, character and place.