“In Memorium” by Alice Winn
This is a very ambitious first novel and one that succeeds on many fronts.
The main part of the novel takes place on the Western Front of WW1. The author does not flinch from graphic descriptions of the barbarity of the frontline with some gory descriptions which are hard hittingly truthful, so this does not make this a recommended read for anyone who would be unsettled by this frank detail which Alice Winn portrays so vividly.
With that proviso though, this is a highly readable book about two public schoolfriends who we first encounter at their school Preshute. Again the author convincingly describes school life in a boys only and privileged society.
Henry Gaunt and Sidney Ellwood are best friends spending a lot of time together but Gaunt, a classicist, is focused on hiding his infatuation for Ellwood, a poet who quotes Tennyson freely.
The quiet idyll of their rural school life is broken by the outbreak of war. Gaunt is half German and, though too young, does enlist when asked to by his mother to protect their family from anti-German insults and bias; but also to escape his obsession with Ellwood.
Gaunt’s initation into the hostilities causes him to mature rapidly, the slaughter around him, the discipline of army life and his responsibilities towards his men. Strangely his senior officer is also an ex-pupil of Preshute and as the war grinds relentlessly on Gaunt is regularly joined by other school acquaintances. This is my one and only criticism of this novel as I could not accept that ín a confrontation across such a broad frontier Preshute old boys belonging to different regiments would keep encountering each other. Maybe a niggle not a criticism.
Of course Ellwood eventually joins up after being given a white feather by local girls and naturally he ends up in the same trenches and bunkers as Gaunt where finally each reveals their true feelings for the other, hidden for so long at school and now released by the sheer terror of their day-to-day uncertain existence. Gaunt by this time has been promoted but opportunities exist when they are resting from the frontline.
This book is a love story between Gaunt and Ellwood set against the background of war. It is touchingly recounted with feeling and understanding; again the author does not step back from authenticity in descriptions of their relationship; which was illegal at that time. All of which is set against the knowledge that their lives are endangered and tomorrow could be their final day especially as they witness the deaths of their fellow officers and school friends and the men with whom they serve and command.
For a first novel this is an impressive book; the author tackling head on difficult themes and in a word – succeeding.
