The Summer Before the War by Helen Simonson: book review

The Summer Before the War (2016) is set in Rye in East Sussex on the English coast in 1914.

Hugh Grange is on the verge of becoming primary assistant surgeon to Sir Alex Ramsey and being in love with his daughter Lucy. He is staying with his aunt Agatha Kent, uncle John (a senior official in the Foreign Office) and cousin Daniel, an aspiring poet, in the idyllic seaside town of Rye for his summer holidays.

Beatrice Nash arrives in Rye as the new Latin Master in the local school after the death of her father left her penniless. She is studious, but also progressive and good-looking. And she is boarding in Agatha’s house. Not everyone is happy about a young woman working, making her own living, being independent, and on her own – it just isn’t ‘proper’ and ‘respectable.’ Besides, they have heard that she does ‘frivolous pursuits’ such as writing and poetry.

As war is imminent, Sir Ramsey has asked Hugh to accompany him to France as part of the Army Medical Corps. Daniel has enlisted too, just as his poetry is published and praised. Before the men of the village go to war, the village holds a farewell ball, a dance. Both Lucy and Beatrice are at the ball.

However, Beatrice’s progressive attitudes are annoying some people and the limits of progress are tested. The war too tests people’s resolve and attitudes. Hugh works relentlessly as a surgeon near the front lines. Some men returned to England, others didn’t. Some women didn’t wait for their loved ones to return, others did.

This is an entertaining read, aimed at highlighting the role of war poetry, and the public reactions to the lines of verse at the time of war. The love story overtakes the war poetry theme, and I would have preferred a stronger emphasis on the war poet and the war surgeon.

MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

Comments

Pir-E-Kamil - The Perfect Mentor by Umera Ahmed: book review

The Perfect Mentor pbuh (2011) is set in Lahore and Islamabad in Pakistan. The novel commences with Imama Mubeen in medical university. She wants to be an eye specialist. Her parents have arranged for her to marry her first cousin Asjad. Salar Sikander, her neighbour, is 18 years old with an IQ of 150+ and a photographic memory. He has long hair tied in a ponytail. He imbibes alcohol, treats women disrespectfully and is generally a “weird chap” and a rude, belligerent teenager. In the past three years he has tried to commit suicide three times. He tries again. Imama and her brother, Waseem, answer the servant’s call to help Salar. They stop the bleeding from his wrist and save his life. Imama and Asjad have been engaged for three years, because she wants to finish her studies first. Imama is really delaying her marriage to Asjad because she loves Jalal Ansar. She proposes to him and he says yes. But he knows his parents won’t agree, nor will Imama’s parents. That

Flaws in the Glass, a self-portrait by Patrick White: book review

The manuscript, Flaws in the Glass (1981), is Patrick Victor Martindale White’s autobiography. White, born in 1912 in England, migrated to Sydney, Australia, when he was six months old. For three years, at the age of 20, he studied French and German literature at King’s College at the University of Cambridge in England. Throughout his life, he published 12 novels. In 1957 he won the inaugural Miles Franklin Literary Award for Voss, published in 1956. In 1961, Riders in the Chariot became a best-seller, winning the Miles Franklin Literary Award. In 1973, he was the first Australian author to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature for The Eye of the Storm, despite many critics describing his works as ‘un-Australian’ and himself as ‘Australia’s most unreadable novelist.’ In 1979, The Twyborn Affair was short-listed for the Booker Prize, but he withdrew it from the competition to give younger writers the opportunity to win the award. His autobiography, Flaws in the Glass

The Beggars' Strike by Aminata Sow Fall: book review

The Beggar’sStrike (1979 in French and 1981 in English) is set in an unstated country in West Africa in a city known only as The Capital. Undoubtedly, Senegalese author Sow Fall writes of her own experiences. It was also encapsulated in the 2000 film, Battu , directed by Cheick Oumar Sissoko from Mali. Mour Ndiaye is the Director of the Department of Public Health and Hygiene, with the opportunity of a distinguished and coveted promotion to Vice-President of the Republic. Tourism has declined and the government blames the local beggars in The Capital. Ndiaye must rid the streets of beggars, according to a decree from the Minister. Ndiaye instructs his department to carry out weekly raids. One of the raids leads to the death of lame beggar, Madiabel, who ran into an oncoming vehicle as he tried to escape, leaving two wives and eight children. Soon after, another raid resulted in the death of the old well-loved, comic beggar Papa Gorgui Diop. Enough is enou

FEAST OR FAMINE

Search This Blog