Rating: 5.00 (1 ratings)
First published 2005
Willie Dunne stands barely eighteen when he walks away from Dublin in 1914. The Western Front waits ahead. He joins the Irish boys in mud-soaked trenches, facing German forces across no man's land. The violence exceeds anything his young mind had prepared for. Bodies fall around him daily. His Irish comrades become brothers in the filth and terror. Letters from Dublin arrive like lifelines, carrying news from the world he left behind. But Ireland itself grows divided while he fights. The war pulls him forward while home calls him back. Willie must choose between the loyalty he owes his country and the bonds he has forged with the men who share his trench. Barry weaves Willie's story through the chaos of the Great War, where young Irish soldiers face not only enemy fire but questions about which flag they truly serve.
Genres: literary-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, war
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: loyalty-conflict, war-story
Setting: Dublin, Western Front
Period: 1914
461 pages · Hardcover · Thorndike Press
Content warnings: violence, war