Lachlan's War

by Michael Cannon

It is a wintry day in 1941 in the village of Rassaig on Scotland's west coast and Dr. Lachlan McCready has been called to an isolated farmhouse. There he finds an evacuee boy named Frank, who will neither talk nor eat. Lachlan immediately realizes he must take the boy under his wing if he is to have any chance of survival. But this boy is not the only newcomer to break the fragile peace of this isolated place. For war has brought other strangers to these distant shores: the arrival of three English land girls will change the lives of the inhabitants for ever as the dark desires and violent secrets of the villagers are forced into the unforgiving light of day.

208 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

Reviews

[Dark-Draco · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved it! From the moment that the Dr comes to Franz's aid, and his story starts to unfold, I was hooked by this book. I have read so many other books set at this time, and yet this felt very different. I think because it is a mixture of styles - not quite a gung-ho, British spirit, Keep Calm and Carry on, but also not a depressive, war is wrong, atrocity reliving book - it is a very cleaver mixture of both which seems to me maybe how we actually cope with any crisis.

There are some funny bits, and some sad bits. It also has some shocking bits - the author has a brilliant way of writing in such a way that you get lulled into a false sense of peace, and then WHAM - something happens that shakes you up completely. A couple of times I had to go back a couple of pages to make sure that I'd read correctly and hadn't missed out something. A brilliant skill.

While the ending stops short of being the huge, lovely and probably unrealistic ending that both Franz and Lachlan dream of, it is an ending that feels good.

I would love to follow these people's story further ... how does the events effect them and their village? Does war intrude even further? Does Franz find his family? But I'm happy to have shared their story so far.

[Lamilla · Rating 3 out of 5]

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[Becky · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a highly enjoyable little book about outsiders drawn into a small community during WWII. So enjoyable that I just read it in one sitting. There are some lovely scenes comic, poignant and tense, as well as some very nice characters. Some of the periphial characters could possibly have been expanded upon, but overall a very readable book.

[Helen O'Toole · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very easy to read book with a host of intriguing characters especially the elderly Doctor Lachlan McCready whose noble humanity in his care of the villagers of the remote Scottish village is admirable. The story of how the Jewish refugee boy, Franz, comes to live with the doctor and his housekeeper, the indomitable Agnes is very heart warming as is the kindness shown to the traumatized boy by school teacher Gail. I felt the way the author ended the book was a fraction unrealistic and I actually wanted to read more of how Franz
coped in later life. The imagined letter from his mother to whoever would care for her son was heart rending. ( Chapter 23, page 127)There is a genuine sense of the way the various characters coped with the terrors of war.

[Kirstin Leslie · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read this for my book club and it was not your typical 'war-time novel' - which was nice. However, I didn't really believe the characters as they were all caricatures and over the top. It was light-hearted/ funny in parts and easy to read, but there were a few plot holes that took me out of it a bit and all of the sex scenes were sooo obviously written by a man.

*Potential spolier*

Also was not clear to me if the author was trying to make a point against abortion - the attitudes toward abortion that characters espoused were probably of their time, but the way the character is blown up literally as she is sat in the dodgy abortion clinic just feels a bit like 'divine retribution' - it didn't sit well wih me.

[Robin Reynolds]

Not quite halfway into this book I set it aside to read something else, and when I finished the something else I still had no desire to pick this book back up again, so I'm DNFing. I just could not get into it for some reason.

[Sheila Wyver · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully written book about a small community in Scotland, set in 1941 and the arrival of an evacuee who doesn’t speak. Great characters, the doctor, housekeeper, land girls and the teacher. A pleasure to read.

[Valerie Petersen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has everything going for it--sympathetic characters you come to know intimately, beautiful language, an intriguing plot, a dramatic setting (WWII Scotland) and a satisfying ending.

[Ernie · Rating 4 out of 5]

After my reading of the contemporary title, set in World War II France, All the Light We Cannot See, the theme of containment and isolation comes to me quickly in this novel about an elderly doctor in that war who has buried his grief in a remote fishing village on the West coast of Scotland. Otherwise, I might have had my thoughts dominated by memories of Dr Finlay's Casebook as this doctor lives with a similarly acerbic housekeeper, Agnes but there is no young doctor. Ironically,the first title focuses on a blind girl while Dr Lachlan McCready is said to have been “born with the visual equivalent of perfect pitch”. An outwardly calm man, he is swift to hold his opinions although assimilated into the life of the impoverished village. Lachlan's other sensibilities have been damaged by his World War I medical experiences and his wife's death in childbirth. However, he remains the quiet observer of nature and his fellow human beings and finds “fragile tranquility” in his evening walks to his hilltop vantage point that looks down upon the bay and the divided village, where the geological division symbolises the chasm of bigotry that falls between the Presbyterians and the Catholics.
To this relatively peaceful haven in time of war come the disruptive forces of three Land Girls from the South and a skinny boy, Frank, an evacuee from London and unknown parts in Europe, who is an elective mute and cannot be separated from a Gladstone Bag that contains all his worldly possessions. Unfortunately, the boy has been billeted with Murdo, a fisherman brute who seethes with resentment at his medical rejection by the armed forces. Murdo habitually subjects his wife to beatings and violent sex heard and once seen by Frank resulting in Murdo raging about something missing from under his bedroom floorboards. At a home visit, Lachlan observes how undernourished the boy is and deduces that he may be Jewish and unable to eat the crustaceans and pork offered by the poor family, so he brings him home for Agnes to persuade him to eat and grow, which he promptly does. The silent boy becomes the other observer of village life with his own observation post at the window at the top of the stairs. Speaking takes longer to emerge and is finally released by the surprising word “phrenology” which is Lachlan's one strange practice, but not unusual for the period and of course widely practised and valued by the Nazis.
From this intriguing situation I enjoy the fluent prose and insights of the third person narration with Lachlan's keen-eyed observations of the villagers. I get the back story of the doctor and eventually with several switches back in time, the story of Frank, who becomes Franz Brod, and his family's desperate attempts to escape from Europe that leave the boy alone and moved between countries and cities like paper parcel. Set beside this escape is that of the Land Girls, especially Lucy who quickly gets the reputation as the “village bike” and Gail who was uncertain of her future with her fiancee and felt guilty about not marrying him before he departed for war. Gail is persuaded to return to teaching in the village school where the pupils have been terrorised by the elderly bigot brought out of retirement as part of the war effort. Lachlan is impressed by Gail and, although they find that they have little to teach Franz, he joins the school as part of his social regeneration.
For such a relatively brief novel, Cannon manages his large cast well, bringing them into and out of the mainstream of his story with smooth connections. The medical aspects of Lachlan's observations are often ironic and I looked forward to many of the bigots tumbling to a nasty end. Scenes in an abortionist's house are brilliant and lead to the shorter chapters that pull the story over a cliff of events. I can forgive the improbable ending as in remote places in wartime, surely these events are less uncommon than we suspect. Highly recommended.

[Mark Paterson · Rating 5 out of 5]

To be honest I didn't want it to end. Dr Lachlan McReady is a warming and caring character on the western isle of Rassaig during the second world war. He rescues a child evacuee from a starving family. It is a brutal, erotic and humorous story. McReady a single man has no belief or faith (my type) and has seen a lot.

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very readable and enjoyable. Started reading this book when visiting a friend and didn't finish it before I left was interested enough in what was going to become of the people in the book to seek it out when I returned home

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

delightful book with well drawn characters and a story line strong enough to keep you engaged on the dullest of train journeys!

It is amusing in places; moving in others, but it is the slow and easy pace which draws you into the book - you actually care about the characters by the close.

[David Grieve]

Very enjoyable story of small community life during WWII. Humorous and poignent in parts with a few neat twists and turns along the way. Very readable.

[Nadine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting read, the characters are well worth it.

[Kevan · Rating 4 out of 5]

loved it.