The Navigation Log: A Novel

by Martin Corrick

“Milly dipped a pen in the bottle of India ink and wrote Tom on the label. She looked at the babies. They moved their arms and legs and made small sounds. Quickly she reached out and tied the label around one of their ankles. The child kicked his legs jerkily and the label fluttered. ‘You’re Tom,’ Milly said. She looked at the other child. ‘And you’re William.’”

A sweeping saga of brothers shaped by the chaos and danger of two world wars, The Navigation Log follows Tom and William, identical twins born as the church bells ring out the armistice of 1918. Largely ignored by their preoccupied mother and adulterous father, the brothers share a close bond through their rambunctious boyhood, even as Tom becomes obsessed with airplanes while William, a burgeoning poet, is drawn to his own internal flights of fancy.

By the time the Second World War casts its shadow across England, the boys have largely gone their separate ways. Tom is a Spitfire pilot, entangled in the romantic pursuit of a tempestuous female flier, and William is a teacher at an unorthodox elementary school. The war intensifies, and so do the brothers’ As Tom patrols the skies, dogfighting high above the coast of Kent, William accompanies his headmaster, students, and new wife in a lunatic pilgrimage across the bomb-strewn countryside below. It is only when they separately approach the majestic Canterbury Cathedral that the twins’ paths explosively converge one last, unforgettable time.

Marking the debut of a masterly storyteller, The Navigation Log brilliantly conjures a vanished Britain with affection, humor, and lyricism that comes close to elegy.


From the Hardcover edition.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, World War II

304 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

Reviews

[Huw Rhys · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a pleasant enough tale about twins in the south of England, and the different paths they took until they reached their early twenties, and the Second World War broke out.

The characters are nice enough, and the story is reasonably engaging, although it does have a certain inevitability about it. If the book has a weakness, it is the occasional extremely odd and seemingly disconnected sentence, such as when the maid enters a busy room, sees that she's not needed yet, and leaves the room. There are many sentences like this throughout the book - almost as if the editing hasn't managed to tie up all the loose ends.

But as I say, it's a pleasant enough tale, without ever really reaching any heights, or plummeting to any depths.

[Sherrie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an easy read. A good story, well written. Although the characters are well developed they are missing that something that makes you really care. There are a lot of people and instances related that don't really add to the story, almost as if it's an autobiography. I accepted that as simply the natural story of one's life - there are many things remembered that are interesting but not necessarily significant.

[Nancy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Competent, but definitely not memorable story of two brothers growing up in World War 2.

[Kevin Archard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Historically accurate and very enjoyable.

[Lorraine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Identical twin brothers, Tom and William, are born on Armistice Day, 1918 to two disinterested parents. The boys become a unit unto themselves, developing a strong bond. The only people who appear to show any interest in the boys are the two women across the street who watch the comings and goings of the family members and make judgmental pronouncements on the actions - all without any basis in fact. When the boys grow into adulthood they develop into individuals. William becomes a teacher who chooses the conventional life of marriage and parenthood. Tom becomes a pilot who thrives on the excitement and danger of flying bombing raids into Nazi-occupied Europe.
I only gave this three stars because the book left me feeling dissatisfied. The characters were all isolated individuals; none of them seemed to know how to connect to other human beings. The parents and the neighbours disappeared halfway through the book. Was the author trying to show us that everyone goes through life alone? Or was he making a comment on the reservedness of the British personality pre-1960s? Because I could not connect emotionally with any of the characters, I didn't really care to spend too much time thinking about why Corrick wrote as he did.

[Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this one especially because the two main characters were twin boys and my son-in-law is a twin. The book was enjoyable but I don't think it leaves any lasting impression. There are many interesting characters but most are really peripheral--they're not developed and you never really know why they are even part of the story. The is especially true of the two nosy neighbors. It is mildly interesting that the neighbors see things in the twin's household that the twins never know even as adults, but that idea is never really explored.

[Bronwyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

A gentle story that is easy reading while still developing a nice rounded tale. The different personalities between the central characters is an interesting touch, but not fully explored. The ending is mildly predictable, but written in such a gentle way that i didn't mind being able to guess beforehand what would happen. A good read without being anything amazing.

[Biddy · Rating 3 out of 5]

At first I was of the opinion that far too much was being written about flying in the period before WWII but this book really grew on me. The lovely prose read like a soliloquy to Engand,. In the time of war. Not in the accepted sense of the daily deprivations and bombings but of the peace experienced in the countryside because of the nature of the land.

[Karen Fyke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tom and William, identical twins. Setting is England in WWII. Tom a pilot in the RAF; William a poet and teacher in an avant garde school. Good book.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is beautfully written. It is also very, very sad at the end.
Masterson is a superb character (oh, and Uncle Oscar too!)

[Endah Lulus]

good

[Deena Simmons · Rating 2 out of 5]

Easy read and pleasantly written. I agree with another reviewer that the characters were not really developed.