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Yet it is also a social commentary of that time. Class and gender are measured against the conflict, and the impetus to change a divided, unequal society. Malcolm Forbes has written for the Times Literary Supplement, the Economist and the Wall Street Journal. He lives in Edinburgh, Scotland. Normal?’ Westwood repeated the word as if it were unfamiliar to him. ‘I suppose if it were normal, I wouldn’t have been sent here.’ On the battlefields of northern France, the guns of the Great War are silent. Special battalions now face the task of gathering up the dead for mass burial. I honestly cannot put this book down! Two Storm Wood knows how to bombard you with tingles and thrilling twists that will left your jaw hanging. I am looking forward for more works from Philip Gray!
The world has been waiting for a worthy successor to Sebastian Faulks’s Birdsong—now Philip Gray has delivered it." David Young Sara Cox I’m absolutely thrilled we are once again delving between the covers, bringing another selection of seven brilliant brand new books, as well as spanning the decades with seven books by talented authors from across the Commonwealth to celebrate the Jubilee." — Sara Cox
The novel is a whodunit of sorts. But it is also a thought-provoking drama which routinely strikes a number of serious notes about man's inhumanity and the traumatic effects of conflict. As Edward reminds us, "War poisons everything that it does not destroy." Amy turned away again. ‘The things I’ve seen… they’re unforgivable. Who could live with the guilt?’ The veterans are all great characters. The author is visibly interested in the damaging power of the experience of war. All his characters are damaged in one way or another. Some of them are clearly irreparably so, but for others, there is hope, and this too – I think – is historically accurate. All are so realistically built that I deeply cared about all of them, even the more ambiguous. Their humanity was what came through, their personal experiences creating compassion that didn’t disappear even in the face of the most gruesome revelations. A fast paced thriller set in the immediate post war period of World War One where a young aristocratic women against her families advice goes to the battlefields of France to look for the body of her fiancé who has been reported missing in action. I cared about all for them, and it was very difficult to work out who was to trust and who was lying.
Powerful historical fiction and a testament to war’s insanity.Powerful historical fiction and a testament to war’s insanity. Atmospheric and meticulously researched, Two Storm Wood sheds light on the horrors and the trauma that continued even after the Armistice. It is that most wonderful of creations—a novel that informs while keeping you on the edge of your seat." Abir Mukherjee
BookBrowse Review
Philip Gray brought out the foul and horrendous reality of war (during and post) by this well thought-out and well-researched book of "Two Storm Wood". This book is particularly equipped by such delicate yet clear way of storytelling that any reader will find addicting. The author does not stop at just sharing his story, he also made sure we will be able to look through the very eyes and feel the very emotions of each characters. Not just that, I also loved how this book somehow able to depict the partiality between races, social classes, and political beliefs. The mood is dark; the tone and motivation of characters are even darker yet the depiction of opportunity for people to shift beliefs and hold on to their never-ending faith and determination at the face of hurdle are one of the strong points in this book.
In 1919, on the desolate battlefields of northern France, thousands of soldiers undertook the immense and dangerous task of gathering up the dead for mass burial. Yet this is a novel of remembered promises and unforgivable betrayal. Unresolved issues that show for some the war never ended in 1918. Hellfire, this is seriously good! It is well researched, with accurate descriptions , not only of the horrors of trench warfare, but very sympathetic to the family members left in limbo, where are their loved ones? If reported missing, that doesn’t give closure, if dead, where has the body been buried, was there enough body to identify, is there a marked grave or was it left to rot on the battlefield. This was a fascinating book which I found gripping, and difficult to step away from. The utter bleakness of the battlefields is painted in shades of unrelenting brown and grey, and the mud almost becomes another character in the book. The unravelling of the mystery is not a sudden reveal, but a gradual discovery like the identification of a decayed body. It is a book that communicates even more on a re-read as the knowledge of the conclusion gives more weight to seemingly throwaway sentences. I think this is a book that would be of interest to thriller readers and those interested in the First World War, but would also appeal to a wider audience.Siblings called together after their mother's death learn that almost everything they know about their Caribbean-born parents is a lie. But I should say a bit more that that just to be honest. Philip Gray has written a novel about WW1 , and it’s aftermath, it’s effects on soldiers and those who love them that once read will linger in the reader’s memory. So a bit about the novel, without any spoilers so as not to ruin the pleasure of discovering a completely satisfying novel. From the very first chapter, it is clear that we must not trust appearances or what people say. Whom can we trust is a question that runs throughout the book in a way that draws us in. In some ways, Amy represents the reader: an innocent out of place in a world that she does not know and can barely imagine.
Death and decay are constant companions in this thought provoking novel. We start with the men in the hospitals who are undergoing pioneering facial reconstruction for terrible wounds and disfigurements. The unpleasant and distasteful job of finding bodies and transporting them to the cemeteries, the sheer cruelty of war, that can leave men feeling hardly human, the various ways they cope with these feelings, alcohol, prostitutes and opiates, the cheapness of life, hardships and privations, no wonder these men hardly ever spoke of their experiences. Sara Cox says: “I’m absolutely thrilled we are once again delving between the covers, bringing another selection of seven brilliant brand new books, as well as spanning the decades with seven books by talented authors from across the Commonwealth to celebrate the Jubilee. On a personal note, it still brings me endless joy that drinking tea and eating custard creams whilst curled up with a good book is considered 'work'. Bring it on.”This is a brutally unflinching account of war, from a perspective that I hadn’t considered before. I admire the actions of wanting relatives to have a body to mourn, even if they couldn’t be returned home. Looking at all the hard work and effort that goes into the maintenance of war graves today, makes you feel that they were honoured in death, whilst being treated so harshly in war. A young lady of your station doesn't spend her time cutting up bodies, living or dead," her mother once told her, thwarting her plan to study medicine. British author Gray lays bare the horrors of World War I through an Englishwoman’s battlefield search for her fiance.
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