The first readalong of this year’s Literature and War Readalong 2016 is very special for several reasons. It’s the first time, I’ve included a short story collection. Then it’s the first book that deals with more than just one conflict. And— I’m particularly pleased about this— the author, Vanessa Gebbie, will join the discussion. Needless to say I’m really looking forward to the discussion and hope that many of you will join.
Since it’s a short story collection I’ve added the first sentences of the first three stories:
The Return of the Baker, Edwin Tregear
Unlike so many, I came home in July. Some of the lads got off the train at Exeter, some at Plymouth. I must have gone to sleep. I woke at Penzance, my stop, when someone shouted, “End of the line, mate.”
Storm Warning
I was on leave.
Telephone call from Istanbul, 3am, Wednesday. Woman’s voice. “StormWarning.”
Gas Gangrene
For the soldiers buried at Tyn Cot Cemetery, Flanders
It’s a sick joke, mate, looking back. You people think gas gangrene was some sort of bloating, a passing blackening of the lungs, a momentary seizing up, that it went as the clouds dispersed.
And some details and the blurb for those who want to join
Storm Warning: Echoes of Conflict by Vanessa Gebbie, 120 pages, UK, 2010, WWII
Here’s the blurb:
Storm Warning explores the echoes and aftershocks of human conflict in a series of powerful stories in which the characters are tested, sometimes to breaking point. Gebbie pulls no punches, exploring the after-effects of atrocity and sometimes, the seeds of atrocity itself.
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The discussion starts on Monday, 29 February 2016.
Further information on the Literature and War Readalong 2016, including all the book blurbs, can be found here.
