This engaging novel of love and loss in WWI may be forgiven for leaning hard on the strong arm of concidence to haul itself over the rockier portions of the plot, as it winds toward its heartbreaking conclusion.
Set initially in 2001, the story kicks off when a proposed housing development in a small English village runs into local opposition when the developer notes that the project will require the removal of a small grove of ash trees. The problem is that the grove was originally planted in 1921, as a memorial to the eight village lads who died in The Great War, and some of them still have family in the village.
Sensing the possibility of a good story, a reporter from a regional newspaper begins digging into the history of the grove, at which point the narrative begins to bounce back and forth between contemporary times and 1915, when the daughter of the local squire determines (against her father's wishes) to go to France as a nurse, and convinces a young maid from the household to accompany her. The truly horrifying conditions they find when they arrive at the nursing convent change their lives forever, and those changes form the core of the novel. Most of the action takes place off the battlefield, focusing on young women and their families. It's only in the last section of the novel that she takes the reader onto the battlefield itself, to view the horror through the eyes of Tom Carter, whose love for one of the women leads him to a desperate act.
Costeloe creates characters here who are engaging and clearly assigned âgood guyâ and âbad guyâ roles, with only the mysterious Nick Potter, whose ambivalence about the development project leaves his motivations in doubt. She clearly understands the class distinctions present in England well through the WWI era, and uses them to advantage as the characters meet the challenges their choices create for them. She also includes an author's note with an update on the âShot at Dawnâ campaign undertaken to clear the names and military records of 306 British soldiers executed by their own army during WWI for alleged desertion under fire, cowardice, or refusal to carry out orders.
Set initially in 2001, the story kicks off when a proposed housing development in a small English village runs into local opposition when the developer notes that the project will require the removal of a small grove of ash trees. The problem is that the grove was originally planted in 1921, as a memorial to the eight village lads who died in The Great War, and some of them still have family in the village.
Sensing the possibility of a good story, a reporter from a regional newspaper begins digging into the history of the grove, at which point the narrative begins to bounce back and forth between contemporary times and 1915, when the daughter of the local squire determines (against her father's wishes) to go to France as a nurse, and convinces a young maid from the household to accompany her. The truly horrifying conditions they find when they arrive at the nursing convent change their lives forever, and those changes form the core of the novel. Most of the action takes place off the battlefield, focusing on young women and their families. It's only in the last section of the novel that she takes the reader onto the battlefield itself, to view the horror through the eyes of Tom Carter, whose love for one of the women leads him to a desperate act.
Costeloe creates characters here who are engaging and clearly assigned âgood guyâ and âbad guyâ roles, with only the mysterious Nick Potter, whose ambivalence about the development project leaves his motivations in doubt. She clearly understands the class distinctions present in England well through the WWI era, and uses them to advantage as the characters meet the challenges their choices create for them. She also includes an author's note with an update on the âShot at Dawnâ campaign undertaken to clear the names and military records of 306 British soldiers executed by their own army during WWI for alleged desertion under fire, cowardice, or refusal to carry out orders.
