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A Century of November
This is the tale of Charles Marden, an apple grower and judge who sets off from his Vancouver Island home on an impulsive journey to Belgium, where his son, an Allied soldier in the First World War, has just died in battle at the very end of the war. Marden's single-minded mission: finding the exact spot where his son was killed. Upon arriving in England, Marden learns that his son left behind a pregnant girlfriend, and soon Marden's search widens to include both finding the exact spot where his son died, and locating the love his son left behind. Nearing the front lines, Marden seems to descend into the fires of hell as he navigates the mine-strewn killing fields of the trenches, still reeking with poison gas.
176 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2004
3 people are currently reading
274 people want to read
About the author
W.D. Wetherell
30 books15 followersWalter D. Wetherell is the author of eleven previous works of fiction and nonfiction. He has received two fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, two O. Henry Awards, the Drue Heinz Literature Prize, and, most recently, the American Academy of Arts and Letters’ Strauss Living Award. He lives in Lyme, New Hampshire, with his wife and two children. His latest novel is A Century of November.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews
August 8, 2010
I loved this book immediately - powerful, epic, moving - I loved it so much, I pursued the film rights with my co producing partner Nicolas Awde - I am happy to say that the script, adapted by Jay Wolpert (The Count of Monte Cristo/Pirates of the Caribbean:Curse of the Black Pearl) has done a brilliant job in maintaining the integrity of this great work. We are in the latter stages of development and about to embark on the pre-production stage. Marden's journey continues!
May 8, 2011
I really enjoyed this book.
***SPOILER***
It was a very poignant portrayal of grief and loss. It depicted a part of war that I hadn't read about before - the masses of fathers, mothers and wives who went to the battle sites after the war to find the last resting place of their loved ones. I found Wetherell's portrayal of the grieving masses quite tragic at times. The contrast between the joy of the masses when peace was declared with the silent, sorrowful, black clad individuals was particularly striking. I liked that Marden went to Belgium in order to bury all hope and expectation but ended up finding hope it in the shape of an unborn child and a new daughter.
Wetherell's depictions of the cities and warzones were excellent. They evoked an atmosphere rather than trying to give a visual picture, although he succeeded in doing this as well.
Like some other excellent books I have read, this one left me wanting more. I remember my Grade 11 English teacher saying that the best books were those that felt unfinished. (We had just read 1984 and were shocked by its ending.) This book leaves the rest of Marden's and Emilie's story to the imagination. I like to think of them living a wonderful life together in Canada watching their son/grandson run, swim and fish as full of life as his father once was.
***SPOILER***
It was a very poignant portrayal of grief and loss. It depicted a part of war that I hadn't read about before - the masses of fathers, mothers and wives who went to the battle sites after the war to find the last resting place of their loved ones. I found Wetherell's portrayal of the grieving masses quite tragic at times. The contrast between the joy of the masses when peace was declared with the silent, sorrowful, black clad individuals was particularly striking. I liked that Marden went to Belgium in order to bury all hope and expectation but ended up finding hope it in the shape of an unborn child and a new daughter.
Wetherell's depictions of the cities and warzones were excellent. They evoked an atmosphere rather than trying to give a visual picture, although he succeeded in doing this as well.
Like some other excellent books I have read, this one left me wanting more. I remember my Grade 11 English teacher saying that the best books were those that felt unfinished. (We had just read 1984 and were shocked by its ending.) This book leaves the rest of Marden's and Emilie's story to the imagination. I like to think of them living a wonderful life together in Canada watching their son/grandson run, swim and fish as full of life as his father once was.
February 18, 2016
‘He judged men and he grew apples and it was a perilous autumn for both.’
In 1918, Charles Marden is a judge, and an apple grower in Vancouver. The Spanish ‘flu is raging across western Canada, and has claimed Mr Marden’s wife amongst its victims. When Charles Marden receives news that his son has just died, in a battle at the very end of World War One, he sets off for Belgium. Charles Marden wants to find the exact spot where his son was killed.
When Mr Marden arrives in England, he learns that his son left behind a girlfriend, pregnant with his child. Can Charles Marden find the girl as well? The closer he gets to the front lines, the closer he gets to hell. The trenches are still strewn with mines, and still reek of poison gas. And the people he meets along his journey each have their own experiences to share, and demons to avoid.
There is no glorification of war here, no attempt to justify sacrifices in the name of a greater good. Instead, there is a father’s search for a site, a place, where the loss of his son will be easier to understand. Or, perhaps, make some sense. Charles Marden’s journey is difficult both physically and emotionally. How can he make sense of it all? Are there answers?
In fewer than 200 pages, Mr Wetherell has written a powerful novel about life, loss and war. Mr Marden’s journey is challenging and difficult. World War One may have finished, but the world continues on. There is no bright shiny new beginning for most people, just a need to move into an unsettled and unknown future. War is devastating, for individuals, communities and countries.
And Charles Marden? What does his future hold?
I picked this novel up, purely by chance. It took me fewer than three hours to read it. This is one of those short novels that somehow makes its way into memory, and stays there.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
In 1918, Charles Marden is a judge, and an apple grower in Vancouver. The Spanish ‘flu is raging across western Canada, and has claimed Mr Marden’s wife amongst its victims. When Charles Marden receives news that his son has just died, in a battle at the very end of World War One, he sets off for Belgium. Charles Marden wants to find the exact spot where his son was killed.
When Mr Marden arrives in England, he learns that his son left behind a girlfriend, pregnant with his child. Can Charles Marden find the girl as well? The closer he gets to the front lines, the closer he gets to hell. The trenches are still strewn with mines, and still reek of poison gas. And the people he meets along his journey each have their own experiences to share, and demons to avoid.
There is no glorification of war here, no attempt to justify sacrifices in the name of a greater good. Instead, there is a father’s search for a site, a place, where the loss of his son will be easier to understand. Or, perhaps, make some sense. Charles Marden’s journey is difficult both physically and emotionally. How can he make sense of it all? Are there answers?
In fewer than 200 pages, Mr Wetherell has written a powerful novel about life, loss and war. Mr Marden’s journey is challenging and difficult. World War One may have finished, but the world continues on. There is no bright shiny new beginning for most people, just a need to move into an unsettled and unknown future. War is devastating, for individuals, communities and countries.
And Charles Marden? What does his future hold?
I picked this novel up, purely by chance. It took me fewer than three hours to read it. This is one of those short novels that somehow makes its way into memory, and stays there.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
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June 27, 2017I just finished "A Century of November" by W. D. Wetherell. This novel is a story of Charles Marden, an apple grower on Vancouver Island in western Canada. He recently lost his wife to the Spanish Flu. Now, he learns that his son, Billy, was killed in the last stages of WW I. Billy was their only child, so Marden makes the journey to see the place in Europe that his son lost his life. He also learns that Billy left a girl friend behind---the love of his life. Now, he is also intent to find this girl. The author's description of his journey is mesmerizing....as he travels across Canada; goes across the Atlantic; and finally gets to the Front in Europe. The description of what the soldiers had to go through to traverse "No-Man's Land" is brilliantly done. This is a true anti-war book. Will Marden succeed in finding out more about Billy? More about the girl? This novel will make for an excellent Book Club presentation. The author has held the Strauss Living grant from the Academy of Arts and Letters. -Bob K.
January 22, 2017
This book was so rich in detail and yet left me wanting more at the end and was more like 3.5 stars! At 168 pages, it was a quick read but incredibly descriptive which made it interesting. Set at the end of WWI, a man who lost his wife to illness receives news that his only son has been killed while fighting. He literally drops everything and starts a quest to find the exact location where his son died - to follow his son's footsteps and stand in the spot his only child took his last breath. The details of his travels and the fact that he is one of many grieving parents attempting the same journey makes this an incredibly powerful story of grief, closure and how we as humans deal with loss.
October 27, 2017
This book is so aptly titled. When I think of November, I think of gray days and this book was so gray. It is the story of a Canadian widower, who upon learning that his son was killed in action in WWI, sets off to Belgium to see the exact spot where he died. The war is nearly over, but there is still some sporadic fighting and still some pockets of poisonous gas that linger in the trenches he navigates. There is mud and dust and dark clouds and rain and despair that permeate the majority of the book, but it is beautifully portrayed. To the grieving father, the month of November must seem like a century. If made into a movie, this short little novel must be a black and white film. (Perhaps a few moments of color, but no spoilers here.)
May 20, 2011
Another good example of how book clubs extend ones reading choice as I wouldn't have normally picked this one up.
This is a deeply moving tale of a Canadian fathers need to understand his only sons death which comes close on the heels of his wife's death from the Spanish influenza. It is set in the closing stages of WW1 - after hearing of his sons death he spontaniously travels to Belgium (half a world away).It is well written with concise narrative that makes one stop and consider the huge scale of human suffering.
This is a deeply moving tale of a Canadian fathers need to understand his only sons death which comes close on the heels of his wife's death from the Spanish influenza. It is set in the closing stages of WW1 - after hearing of his sons death he spontaniously travels to Belgium (half a world away).It is well written with concise narrative that makes one stop and consider the huge scale of human suffering.
May 12, 2011
Wow, quite the emotional read. Fantastic writing, explains things so well that you feel you are there. Very haunting, deep emotions. A new appreciation for what parents went through when their children were taking part in war. My words certainly cannot do this book justice. I think it is a must read and I am so grateful we read this as a bookclub read, if it wasn't nominated I may have missed out.
January 15, 2017
What an interesting perspective on WWI and the toll war takes on those who stay home and those who go and on the land where the fighting takes place. I liked the combination of first person and third person narrative and the author's descriptive style.
April 5, 2018
Incredible
huge research must have gone into this, accompanied by an equally huge sensory imagination. W.D. Wetherell has given a place a name, an old, distant war a tangible, audible, terrible reality.
Finely written.
huge research must have gone into this, accompanied by an equally huge sensory imagination. W.D. Wetherell has given a place a name, an old, distant war a tangible, audible, terrible reality.
Finely written.
November 30, 2023
This was a story that gripped my heart from the opening chapters. An apple grower, judge, husband, and father, this is who Charles Marsden of Vancouver Island is. It is the time of the Spanish flu, and it is the time of WWI. Charles is at home, and his wife is in Vancouver visiting her sister, where she succumbs to the Spanish flu. He then receives a telegram, delivered by his friend, stating his son, who is overseas, is listed as killed/missing. As he goes to the orchard, he sees the apple trees that had shown such promise, had brown empty sacks, not apples, hanging from their branches. Mr Marsden decides to have closure,he needs to go to Belgium to see exactly where his son died. On his trip, he discovers he is not the only person making this pilgrimage. Other fathers, mothers, wives, and girlfriends are too. By the time he gets to England, the war has ended. He finds out his son left behind a pregnant girlfriend. His trip to Belgium finds him steps behind her. The story continues to unfold. The love, sadness, and loss permeates throughout. Nothing prepares you what he and others endure on this journey. The title, The Century of November, totally encapsulates this story. It will stay with me for a long while.
June 2, 2020
How does an author take a topic as horrifying as a world war and bring it to life with lyrical writing? I don't know, but the author was able to do this. Mr. Marsden's world has been torn apart, you know this man is completely bereft. The book begins with a lovely pastoral scene of apples fruiting, a good harvest expected - then contrasted with the waste of war and disease, flu (very pertinent as I read this during the Covid19 pandemic). The pace of the book builds as he journeys ever closer to 'the war' and again the use of natural imagery to soften - but not - the battlefields both literal and in the people he encounters on his travels.
The is a writer who uses careful and beautiful language not to hide the horror of war, but to reveal it in all its terrible waste and destruction.
The is a writer who uses careful and beautiful language not to hide the horror of war, but to reveal it in all its terrible waste and destruction.
December 8, 2025
The writing is lovely. The story and pacing somber. I could not help but be reminded of imagery from the film “1918” which helped me visualize the reading. I think it would be a good movie; I think I would prefer it as a movie.
July 26, 2017
Spare, evocative, gripping. The picture of the Western front shortly after the Armistice makes you say, "yes, this is how it must have been."
December 18, 2017
I think this book is better than three stars. I just wasn't in the right mindset to appreciate it.
March 30, 2020
WWI novel. Beautiful. Mournful.
March 14, 2022
This was a sad book about losing loved ones. I had no idea so many people went over to try and find their lost or dead loved ones.
July 27, 2011
Un siècle de novembre, de l'américain Walter D. Wetherell, est un livre bouleversant. La traduction de Lori Saint-Martin et Paul Gagné est excellente. Les lecteurs qui choisissent un livre par sa première phrase seront sans doute attirée par celle-ci : «Il jugeait les hommes et cultivait des pommes, et cet automne-là n’était propice ni à la justice ni aux vergers.» Il s'agit de l'automne 1918, juste avant l'armistice de la Première Guerre mondiale. Trois semaines après le décès de sa femme (de la grippe espagnole), Charles Marden reçoit la lettre officielle qui lui apprend la disparition de son fils unique dans la mêlée des Flandres. Il jette quelques vêtements dans un sac de voyage et quitte immédiatement l'île de Vancouver. «Jamais Marden n'oublierait le calme qui régnait ce soir-là. Dans le couchant, les rares plis se lissaient, viraient à l'indigo puis au violet. C'était comme si la proue du bateau de Cooper découpait de la soie.»
En lisant ces évocations des tranchées de la Première Guerre mondiale, je pensais au terrible film de Stanley Kubrick, Les Sentiers de la Gloire (Paths of Glory), où des officiers incompétents et insensibles envoient leurs hommes à la boucherie dans des assauts insensés.
Voici le récit d'un incident de la Première Guerre que j'ai trouvé en faisant des recherches sur Ypres. Il s'agit du même événement évoqué (de façon très romancée) dans le film Joyeux Noël, de Christian Carion.
La Trêve de Noël
A Noël, les soldats du front occidental étaient épuisés et choqués par l'étendue des pertes humaines qu'ils avaient subies depuis le mois d'août. Au petit matin du 25 décembre, les Britanniques qui tenaient les tranchées autour de la ville belge d'Ypres entendirent des chants de Noël venir des positions ennemies, puis découvrirent que des sapins de Noël étaient placés le long des tranchées allemandes. Lentement, des colonnes de soldats allemands sortirent de leurs tranchées et avancèrent jusqu'au milieu du no man's land, où ils appelèrent les Britanniques à venir les rejoindre. Les deux camps se rencontrèrent au milieu d'un paysage dévasté par les obus, échangèrent des cadeaux, discutèrent et jouèrent au football. Ce genre de trêve fut courant là ou les troupes britanniques et allemandes se faisaient face, et la fraternisation se poursuivit encore par endroits pendant une semaine jusqu'à ce que les autorités militaires y mettent un frein. (Source : Wikipedia)
Les soldats des divers camps ont en effet souvent bien plus en commun les uns avec les autres qu'avec leurs propres officiers. Les soldats, quelque soit leur origine, sont en général des paysans, des ouvriers, des petits artisans. Leurs officiers sont d'une autre classe, d'un autre monde.
En lisant ces évocations des tranchées de la Première Guerre mondiale, je pensais au terrible film de Stanley Kubrick, Les Sentiers de la Gloire (Paths of Glory), où des officiers incompétents et insensibles envoient leurs hommes à la boucherie dans des assauts insensés.
Voici le récit d'un incident de la Première Guerre que j'ai trouvé en faisant des recherches sur Ypres. Il s'agit du même événement évoqué (de façon très romancée) dans le film Joyeux Noël, de Christian Carion.
La Trêve de Noël
A Noël, les soldats du front occidental étaient épuisés et choqués par l'étendue des pertes humaines qu'ils avaient subies depuis le mois d'août. Au petit matin du 25 décembre, les Britanniques qui tenaient les tranchées autour de la ville belge d'Ypres entendirent des chants de Noël venir des positions ennemies, puis découvrirent que des sapins de Noël étaient placés le long des tranchées allemandes. Lentement, des colonnes de soldats allemands sortirent de leurs tranchées et avancèrent jusqu'au milieu du no man's land, où ils appelèrent les Britanniques à venir les rejoindre. Les deux camps se rencontrèrent au milieu d'un paysage dévasté par les obus, échangèrent des cadeaux, discutèrent et jouèrent au football. Ce genre de trêve fut courant là ou les troupes britanniques et allemandes se faisaient face, et la fraternisation se poursuivit encore par endroits pendant une semaine jusqu'à ce que les autorités militaires y mettent un frein. (Source : Wikipedia)
Les soldats des divers camps ont en effet souvent bien plus en commun les uns avec les autres qu'avec leurs propres officiers. Les soldats, quelque soit leur origine, sont en général des paysans, des ouvriers, des petits artisans. Leurs officiers sont d'une autre classe, d'un autre monde.
March 3, 2017
Amazing imagery. Absolutely some of the best I've read lately. The book started out slow for me, but it captured me about twenty pages in.
August 18, 2014
Charles Marden makes a journey from Vancouver Island to Belgium, tracing a physical path that is similar to my own. His story, though, is one of looking backwards for answers, rather than forwards for adventure. It is 1918, and Marden has just received a letter telling him that his son was killed in Belgium. In order to try to make sense of this tragedy, he travels to Belgium to find the last place where his son stood alive.
Marden is numb and unable to comprehend the personal and global tragedies of the war, his loss so great it was impossible for me to grasp. What really shook me were the descriptions of Belgium after just after the war. I have visited these cities, now so carefully reconstructed, and it is so difficult for me to imagine them destroyed. For me, these are sunlit towns filled with happy memories, so to read of their annihilation was like learning of the abusive childhood of a dear friend.
Marden is numb and unable to comprehend the personal and global tragedies of the war, his loss so great it was impossible for me to grasp. What really shook me were the descriptions of Belgium after just after the war. I have visited these cities, now so carefully reconstructed, and it is so difficult for me to imagine them destroyed. For me, these are sunlit towns filled with happy memories, so to read of their annihilation was like learning of the abusive childhood of a dear friend.
It was like having heard of heaven and hell, and finding out, in one revelatory moment, that this is what they consisted of – not magic zones of fire, not fleecy zones of clouds, but a vaguely undulating series of muddy fields that looked like a lumpy pudding.
“Voila“, Conner said, smiling ironically. “The Western Front”.
…
Back on the island he had has a friend named Andre Slater who had a farm and grew potatoes. It wasn’t a particularly big farm, not by western standards, and yet the battlefield he stared at could have fit inside with room to spare. In the end, it was this comparison that defeated him – thinking how many boys had tried trying to cross Andre Slater’s farm.
October 30, 2014
This book made me fall in love with fiction again. After a long stretch of non-fiction reading, I'd forgotten how powerful the art of the written word can be-- the turn of phrase, the rich evocation of images, of atmosphere, of emotion that bring you into a different world.
The story begins near the end of WWI. Marden, recently widowed by the Spanish influenza epidemic, learns that his son-- his only child-- has been killed on the Western Front. He leaves his home on a secluded island in Vancouver Island, drawn by an inexplicable force to find the place where his son died. It's a remarkable snapshot of a moment in history that I did not know about. At the waning of WWI where many grieving families did exactly as Marden, braving brutal journeys to battlefields, bunkers, and minefields just to be in the presence of the departed soul of their loved one. He walks among these dazed people, coping with his grief alone and in the company of others, and finding unexpected hope for the future along the way.
The story begins near the end of WWI. Marden, recently widowed by the Spanish influenza epidemic, learns that his son-- his only child-- has been killed on the Western Front. He leaves his home on a secluded island in Vancouver Island, drawn by an inexplicable force to find the place where his son died. It's a remarkable snapshot of a moment in history that I did not know about. At the waning of WWI where many grieving families did exactly as Marden, braving brutal journeys to battlefields, bunkers, and minefields just to be in the presence of the departed soul of their loved one. He walks among these dazed people, coping with his grief alone and in the company of others, and finding unexpected hope for the future along the way.
August 21, 2016
"He judged men and he grew apples." A Century of November, by W.D. Wetherell, begins with these words, and as I read them, I felt the gentle click of the manacles that would draw me through the story. One might say this is a book about war, yet it doesn't glorify a battle or exalt a hero or two. It tells of the agony of loss for those left behind. The book is about the end of World War I, yet transcends a single event, to the most universal emotions of surviving family. Charles Marden crosses Canada from Vancouver to Halifax to England and finally to France and Belgium, where he goes in search of his son, missing in battle. As a reader, the descriptions of the people he meets, and particularly the devastated landscape of the recently concluded war carried me with Marden on his quest. This book received awards for the writing, yet it was the heart and soul of it that turned the pages. Beautifully written and filled with the gut-wrenching poignance of loss, A Century of November will grind emotion out of you until all that's left is hope for the future.
November 5, 2012
This was a second read of this book, published in 2004. My earlier opinion remains, that this is a gem, a must-read for those who appreciate outstanding writing, a gripping, heart-breaking story of a father's search for the exact place where his son Billy died in Belgium, one of the millions of WWI casualties. Charles Marden, still numbed by the death of his wife only three weeks earlier, a victim of Spanish influenza, makes his way from Vancouver Island, to the deadly killing fields of Gheluvelt. Compelled by his grief, he is joined by hundreds of other "pilgrims," searching for traces of their loved ones. Charles' follows in the wake of Billy's British girlfriend, Elaine, driven by the same compulsion - to be at the spot where this young man, full of promise and a bright future, died anonymously, and wretchedly. "A Century of November" is only 164 pages, a quick read; however, the story will remain with you, as it should.
August 9, 2009
I loved this short novel, which was only about 160 pages long - a good counterpoint to "Life and Fate," which wieghed in at 870 pages. "A Century of November" is a novel about a Canadian father's trip to Belgium, to see where his son died during WWI; it is a darkly beautiful story of despair and, ulitmately, hope. Its spare, wonderful prose and story reminded me of two other short novels that I greatly admire: Helen Humphreys' "The Lost Garden," and J. L. Carr's "A Month in the Country."
March 15, 2013
This is a short but stunning tale about a straightforward, strong and insightful man who sets out from British Columbia to seek the site in Belgium where his son was killed at the very close of World War I. His quest occurs within days of the end of hostilities in November, 1918, giving Wetherell the opportunity to describe the horrors of the aftermath. And he exploits this opportunity with searing power. Rarely has the futility of war been more succinctly articulated.
June 17, 2007
At the close of World War I, a man travels from Canada to France in order see the place where his son lost his life. He discovers along the way that his son had a fiancé and his search for this place becomes a search for her too. This character is written so well that I felt like Wetherell had inhabited this man while composing this book.
June 10, 2011
What a beautiful, powerful read. The gift the author has to create an atmosphere without a lot of "speaking" was really wonderful. Sometimes I prefer books with a lot of 'discussion' because you can fly through them, but this one was one of those books to savour and reflect upon. A very poignant (thanks Kathy) 4 star read for me.
July 28, 2013
Newly widowed Mr. Marden receives news about his son's death on the WWI warfront in Belgium which prompts him to travel from Vancouver, Canada to Europe. This book shows a journey made in grief and the many types of people impacted by war. The plodding narrative found my thoughts wandering at times, but the descriptions of the battlefield made an impression about the wastefulness of war.
February 7, 2017
I really didn't care much for this short and easy to read book. On the one hand, I did appreciate the style of the narration. (I liked the way that the author told Marden's story with "he thought this, he did that.") I just wished that there was more "he did" and less "he thought."
May 1, 2007
Incedibly sad, but awesome!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews