Private Peaceful

The very considerable body of children's literature dealing with the First World War has, with Michael Murpurgo's new novel, gained an impressive addition. Particularly for readers familiar with the sentiments and imagery of the poetry of Owen and Sassoon, this will strike a touching and sympathetic chord. In essence, it is the story of two teenage brothers, of how they come to enlist and, most powerfully, of how one of them recalls in diary form the final hours of the other's life as he awaits, for alleged cowardice in the face of the enemy, the firing squad. Thomas, the narrator, fills the waiting hours with loving memories of childhood and early adolescence in the brothers' Devon village: it is the contrast between these memories and the horrors of Thomas's present surroundings that gives the novel its pathos and poignancy. The poetry here really is in the pity. Highly recommended.