"...a masterful writer; descriptions of places, people and events are precise and dialogue is smart, natural and entirely believable. "
AMAZON UK
AMAZON UK
Fictional Saga
1914
Germany and Scotland
Make no mistake, Jim Burnside is a masterful writer; descriptions
of places, people and events are precise and dialogue is smart, natural and
entirely believable. Whilst some writers can make you believe you are watching
a play, Burnside acts as the director of his own film, his camera sweeping
around the characters so that they all get their say and present their point of
view in their own individual voices. Jim MacDonald is the lead character until
the battle of Nonne Boschen Wood (just outside Ypres) when his older brother
Peter takes over the role. Both are volunteers and capable of buying themselves
out of the army with no questions asked. Witnessing the horrors of battle and
realising the futility of it all, both are inclined to do just that.
Jim dies (sorry for the spoiler,
but there is no way to avoid it) and Peter returns home to Scotland on leave to
break the news to their mother and other brothers. There he cements his
relationship with the widow, Sorcha Murray and they plan to marry once Peter
serves his last six months in the army.
This is the third book in a
series subtitled Going Home and here I suffered my first disappointment:
the only character I can recall from the previous two volumes is Hannah Harper
who has a few references in this book and one very short appearance, despite
being courted by their brother William. Despite this, it can very much be read as
a stand alone.
I felt that the blurb on the back
cover was a bit misleading; Jim is not mentioned by name and the focus appears
to be on Peter, yet the latter is mentioned very little in the first half of the book as it is Jim's
story and experiences that we read about. Maybe the cover could also be updated to a more attractive version on Amazon? (*image depicted above dated Dec 2018)
My third disappointment was that
there were enough typos and formatting errors (one chapter suddenly appears as
left justified before the book reverts to the correct format) to warrant a
final edit.
One word of warning: readers
unused to Scottish vernacular may struggle with some sections of dialogue – but
having said that, not one word of it should be changed!
All in all, a powerful and
thought-provoking book, perhaps a little overlong as some scenes may not have
been necessary, so I strongly suggest that final edit and maybe be a bit stricter with the flow while doing so? Even so, this is one that I recommend.
© Richard Tearle
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Only the things mentioned above stopped this being a 5 star review. A shame ...
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