A novel by W.F.Morris,
Published by Casemate Publishers,
Paperback, £9.99, (ISBN: 978-1-61200-376-4)
Book review by John Battersby
This is a complex and, at times, a deeply troubling novel, published in 1930. The author, Major W.F. Morris MM, served during the 1st WW with the 13th Cyclist Battalion of the Norfolk Regiment, so had a real fighting background from which to conjure up this fascinating and highly detailed layer-on-layer story. W.F. Morris came from that very erudite generation of Victorians whose education included the ability to write, knew their poets, Shakespeare, mental arithmetic, history and maps and had wonderful hand writing. Then they had their minds subjected to intense war conditions. It is this background that had all the ingredients to produce this amazing story. The war, the people and fine details of many aspects of the conflict provide the reader with the very reason to keep saying "What is going to happen next?", on both sides of the front line. It is a very worthwhile read and you can decide on the truth of the original story which provided the basis of the novel.