The Falklands Summer

John Branfield's work has always had my wholehearted approval, but this latest book lacks the fluency - and to some extent the conviction - apparent in, for example, The Fox in Winter and more notably The Day I Shot My Dad. The Falklands Summer is redolent of post-examination languor and the restlessness engendered by a long, empty summer. Matthew Walker has finished his examinations and his mind is full of the Falklands conflict, eager for heroic action. His chance soon comes in the shape of a new and unsympathetic local landowner who thoughtlessly begins to clear a wood and surrounding moorlands for building purposes. The man's lack of regard for local feeling and the plight of wild animals denied their natural habitat stimulate Matthew to devise a plan to assert the power of local identity. Accompanied by his friends, he attempts a dangerous night-time swim to Gull Island to claim it for the Cornish community but the attempt ends in disaster. Branfield raises many thought-provoking issues, not least those of loyalty and identity, but his usual effortless style seems clipped and tense, almost jarring on the reader on occasion. The Falklands Summer should be read - 3rd and 4th year boys will enjoy it enormously - but not as an example of Branfield's best work.