Book Review by Mary P: Our theme for the month was naval fiction, and I decided to read The Cruel Sea which when I looked for a copy of the book was said to be “ a classic “ The book is divided into 7 parts, each one covering a year of the War in … Continue reading
Tagged with war fiction …
The Ship (1943) by C.S. Forester
Book Review by George S: The Ship was first published in 1943, when the outcome of the war was still uncertain, and it bears the marks of a book composed for the purposes of propaganda. It is the story of the Artemis, a light cruiser accompanying a convoy of merchant ships to the besieged island … Continue reading
The Charioteer (1953) by Mary Renault
Book review by Alice C: The book has lain unread on my bookshelves for several years, so during lockdown I decided to shake it out and open it up. I haven’t read any books by Mary Renault so The Charioteer was my first. I expected it would be all sandals and togas and Greek gods. … Continue reading
Across the Black Waters (1939) by Mulk Raj Anand
Book Review by George S: Across the Black Waters is the second volume in a trilogy by Mulk Raj Anand. The other volumes are: The Village, which describes the early life of Lalu, and ends with him joining the Indian Army; and The Sword and the Sickle, which follows his life in the years after … Continue reading
The Woman of Knockaloe (1923) by Hall Caine
Review by George S: This novel comes with two forewords, one by Newman Flower, the head of Cassell’s publishing house, and one by the author. The gist of each is that this book will disturb and offend some, but that it is a story that needs to be told.
The Amazing Summer (1941) by Philip Gibbs
Review by Sylvia D: Philip Gibbs’ The Amazing Summer (1941) is a good example of his journalistic novel-writing, set as it is against a backdrop of the hot and sunny summer of 1940, the Battle of Britain and the early months of the Blitz. It has resonances with Elizabeth Goudge’s The Castle on the Hill … Continue reading
Trooper to the Southern Cross (1934) by Angela Thirkell
Book review by George S: Trooper to the Southern Cross is a novel by Angela Thirkell, first published in 1934 under the pseudonym of ‘Leslie Parker’. She had married George Thirkell (her second husband and an Australian) in 1918, and in 1920 traveled with him and their children to Australia on a troopship. This book … Continue reading
1944 (1926) by the Earl of Halsbury
Book review by George S: The Earl of Halsbury’s novel, 1944 (published in 1926) is a very readable example of the ‘Future War’ genre’. Before 1914, such books had mostly been grim warnings about possible German invasions. After 1918, they still proliferated, though with a change of emphasis. My favourites are the ones where Bolshevik … Continue reading
Lords and Masters (1936) by A.G. Macdonell
Book Review by George S.: A. G. Macdonell is best known for his comic novel, England, Their England. Lords and Masters is a comic novel, too, but the humour is much blacker, tinged by despair at the international situation during the 1930s. The novel centres on a wealthy Kensington family. James Hanson is a self-made … Continue reading
Cloudless May (1943) by Storm Jameson
Review by Sylvia D For our women writers and World Wars One and Two session I read Storm Jameson’s Cloudless May (Macmillan, 1943 and still in print) which is a political and psychological exploration of the fall of France in the Second World War. The writing reveals a considerable knowledge of French landscape, culture and … Continue reading
