"1914": Enriched edition. A Compelling Historical Novel on the Brink of War

by John Oxenham

The book is set from just before the start of the First World War in 1914. It is a work of fiction tied closely to real historic events. The story opens in the comfortable home, The Red House, Wilstead, of Mr John Dare and his family. Mr Dare is beginning to feel mildly bothered about events in Europe but cannot bring himself to believe that war might be a reality. Events begin to get complicated when he decides he must bring his oldest daughter, Lois, home from her studies in Leipzig, Austria. John Oxenham wrote many novels. This one was first published in 1916.

349 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 19, 2010

About the author

William Arthur Dunkerley was a prolific English journalist, novelist and poet. He was born in Manchester, spent a short time after his marriage in America before moving to Ealing, west London, where he served as dea­con and teach­er at the Ealing Con­gre­ga­tion­al Church from the 1880s, and he then moved to Worthing in Sussex in 1922, where he became the town's mayor.

He wrote under his own name, and also as John Oxenham for his poetry, hymn-writing, and novels. His poetry includes Bees in Amber: a little book of thoughtful verse (1913) which became a bestseller. He also wrote the poem Greatheart. He used another pseudonym, Julian Ross, for journalism. Dunkerley was a major contributor to Jerome K. Jerome's The Idler magazine.

He had two sons and four daughters, of whom the eldest, and eldest child, Elsie Jeanette, became well known as a children's writer, particularly through her Abbey Series of girls' school stories. Another daughter, Erica, also used the Oxenham pen-name. The elder son, Roderic Dunkerley, had several titles published under his own name.

Reviews

[Rafael Fernandes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exquisite prose. Thoroughly British.