This is both a deeply moving and harrowing book. The writing has a subtle menace and darkness about it that creates the feelings of despair that must have been felt in the trenches during World War 1. At the same time there is a lightness and innocence to the portrayal of the characters, particularly in the description of David.
The contrast between life on the frontline and home life is so clearly depicted. The feeling of derealisation in the polite drawing rooms of England must have led many of these traumatised young men to feel more at home amongst the horror and “reality” of the trenches.
John Hilliard is already a damaged young man when we meet him having been repatriated to England to recover from a shrapnel injury. Yet he is eager to return to the front and turn his back on the normality of home. On the other hand, we watch David Barton, the writer, the poet, the optimist, come fresh to the horror and despair, and we watch his slow unravelling, that is so sensitively handled by Susan Hill.
Alongside this dramatic backdrop of war, runs the growing relationship between the two main characters. Bonded by their experience, we see the development of their relationship; a brotherhood, a romance, a bromance, a finding of a soulmate, whatever label we want to give it from our modern day perspective, it slowly unfolds from initial reticence to the declaration of love. The relationship is beautifully narrated, and is in stark relief to the blood, death and destruction that swirls around them.
Hauntingly beautiful, macabrely descriptive, Susan Hill’s handling of the subject matter is touching, moving and stays with you even when the book is closed.
The contrast between life on the frontline and home life is so clearly depicted. The feeling of derealisation in the polite drawing rooms of England must have led many of these traumatised young men to feel more at home amongst the horror and “reality” of the trenches.
John Hilliard is already a damaged young man when we meet him having been repatriated to England to recover from a shrapnel injury. Yet he is eager to return to the front and turn his back on the normality of home. On the other hand, we watch David Barton, the writer, the poet, the optimist, come fresh to the horror and despair, and we watch his slow unravelling, that is so sensitively handled by Susan Hill.
Alongside this dramatic backdrop of war, runs the growing relationship between the two main characters. Bonded by their experience, we see the development of their relationship; a brotherhood, a romance, a bromance, a finding of a soulmate, whatever label we want to give it from our modern day perspective, it slowly unfolds from initial reticence to the declaration of love. The relationship is beautifully narrated, and is in stark relief to the blood, death and destruction that swirls around them.
Hauntingly beautiful, macabrely descriptive, Susan Hill’s handling of the subject matter is touching, moving and stays with you even when the book is closed.