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In Pale Battalions Robert Goddard 9780671649456 Books

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In Pale Battalions Robert Goddard 9780671649456 Books

In 1988, British novelist Robert Goddard published a multi-generational novel called, "In Pale Battalions". Set in England and the battlefields of France and Picardy during the Great War, Goddard has written an excellent novel that exposes feelings and attitudes of those fighting at the time, and how their lives and sacrifices trickled down to affect future generations, as well as the madness and the lies and deceptions resulting from certain mad acts. It's now almost 30 years after publication of the original book, and 2014 is the 100th year anniversary of the beginning of that war. It's a fine time to discover Goddard's novel.

We have been deluged so far with books about the Great War, both fiction and non-fiction. While the works of non-fiction tell the best story of the war with facts, many works of fiction tell the "feeling" of the war. The story in "Pale Battalions" is very complicated and is told in the first-person voices of three characters. All these characters interacted - to a degree - between 1904 and 1969, but the story they tell is all a bit compromised because they are somewhat "unreliable narrators". But does having an "unreliable narrator" mean that we - the readers - shouldn't believe what they're saying? I don't think so in this case.

Basically, this story is about Leonora Gallaway and her search for the truth of her family. Supposedly conceived 11 months after the death of her father in battle, she was mistreated by her father's family after her mother died in childbirth and she was turned over to their care. Secrets that seemingly began in that secluded country house during the war, actually began a few years earlier. Identities were blurred, murders occurred - both on and off the battlefield - and the revelations which come out years after the war are shocking to the reader.

"In Pale Battalions" is expertly written by Robert Goddard. While some reviewers have written that the pace is slow, I think most readers interested in the period and the characters will find it quite good.


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In Pale Battalions Robert Goddard 9780671649456 Books Reviews

Brief summary and review, no spoilers.

The action in this book primarily takes place in England during WWI, but we go back and forth in time as we slowly learn about all the secrets in this gem of a book.

We start off meeting a woman named Lenora, who is on a holiday of sorts to a WWI memorial site with her daughter. The daughter has always felt that her mother has kept many secrets from her, and it appears that now she is finally willing to talk. And secrets she does have.

While visiting the memorial, Leonora shows her daughter the dates of her own father John Hallows' death on the battlefield. She then tells her daughter to do the math and that's when we realize that Leonora's father was killed a year before Lenora's birth.

We then go back in time as Lenora tells her daughter about her childhood and about her memories growing up in her ancestral home - a place named Meonsgate. Lenora had a hellish upbringing with apparently everyone knowing that her parentage was unknown. We know that Leonora's mother (who was also named Leonora) died when she was very young.

Part of the horror of her childhood was that her grandfather, distraught over his son John's death, never really acknowledges the young girl as his won. His second wife Olivia is the epitome of the stereotypical evil-stepmother.

There is a lot that happens at Meonsgate, especially when John's friend comes there to honor his last-wish that he look after Leonora. He is an honorable man and he is disheartened and confused by all the secrecy and sadness there. And once there is a murder and an apparent suicide, things really start to come to a head.

As I said, the story goes back in forth in time as we are given just pieces of the whole picture and indeed it is not until the very end of the book that we know it all. The book is replete with twists and turns and if you are a mystery buff and a WWI like I am, this should push all your buttons.

Robert Goddard is one of my favorite writers and if you haven't read him yet, your'e in for a treat.

Highly, highly recommended. Not a fast read, but such a rewarding one.
In 1988, British novelist Robert Goddard published a multi-generational novel called, "In Pale Battalions". Set in England and the battlefields of France and Picardy during the Great War, Goddard has written an excellent novel that exposes feelings and attitudes of those fighting at the time, and how their lives and sacrifices trickled down to affect future generations, as well as the madness and the lies and deceptions resulting from certain mad acts. It's now almost 30 years after publication of the original book, and 2014 is the 100th year anniversary of the beginning of that war. It's a fine time to discover Goddard's novel.

We have been deluged so far with books about the Great War, both fiction and non-fiction. While the works of non-fiction tell the best story of the war with facts, many works of fiction tell the "feeling" of the war. The story in "Pale Battalions" is very complicated and is told in the first-person voices of three characters. All these characters interacted - to a degree - between 1904 and 1969, but the story they tell is all a bit compromised because they are somewhat "unreliable narrators". But does having an "unreliable narrator" mean that we - the readers - shouldn't believe what they're saying? I don't think so in this case.

Basically, this story is about Leonora Gallaway and her search for the truth of her family. Supposedly conceived 11 months after the death of her father in battle, she was mistreated by her father's family after her mother died in childbirth and she was turned over to their care. Secrets that seemingly began in that secluded country house during the war, actually began a few years earlier. Identities were blurred, murders occurred - both on and off the battlefield - and the revelations which come out years after the war are shocking to the reader.

"In Pale Battalions" is expertly written by Robert Goddard. While some reviewers have written that the pace is slow, I think most readers interested in the period and the characters will find it quite good.