A fine mourning /
Rob Westcott.
- ix, 471 pages ; 24 cm.
Joe West is an educated man, a reluctant leader who enjoyed anonymity until he performed a courageous act at Gallipoli. Since arriving in France he has had to come to terms with his fear and hatred of the War, but also a vague, terrible frisson he experiences during battle. Harry is a big man, a loner, and from an impoverished background. He is consumed by guilt arising from the accidental killing of his disabled brother shortly before enlistment. Stan, by contrast, was raised in affluence. At 19 he is the youngest of the three Australians. His innocence is particularly tested in an environment no man should have to experience. Joe falls in love with a nurse who works in an English Asylum. They meet during a brief leave when Joe and Harry visit a shell shocked comrade. The parallels between the world of the Asylum and the world at war are all too apparent. When the two men return to France and re-unite with Stan they find themselves struggling through the harshest winter in fifty years. But with Spring comes a tougher test. An overly ambitious General is planning a demonstration against Germany's vaunted Hindenburg Line...