If people would just tell each other the truth, it would prevent so many problems. That's what I wanted to shout at all of the characters. This is an engaging historical novel, tracing one man's fateful decision, and how it affected people for generations. Social mores were so different a century ago, so many things were 'not spoken of' and it just blighted so many lives. WWI was definitely the end of an era.

The narration in this novel was mostly individual characters telling other characters about a particular series of events. So it lacked the narrative drive we're used to in more modern works (it was written in 1989). All the secrets surrounding an unsolved murder in a country mansion getting laid bare, layer upon layer, kept me reading. On the other hand, I got frustrated by how many times a character would say, "I can't talk here," and then everyone would have to go to a different place to hear more of the story. The tale itself is rich and layered, but the manner in which it was told was sometimes a little offputting, circling around and around without getting to the point. This creates its own kind of tension, but it was more frustrating than not. There were lots of twists and changes of perspective. Overall, I liked it but found the format and structure of the story to be detrimental to my enjoyment. ( )

Found this very longwinded, won’t be reading any more by this author. ( )

This is an interesting and engaging novel about WW1 and the conflict it generated in the lives of many British families. It was an ugly war made worse by the staggering incompetence of its generals. A whole generation of young men, from the engaged foes, were annihilated by the lack of a coherent strategy, archaic tactics, and the machine gun. ( )

Enjoyable thriller full of surprises. ( )

L'âge venant, Leonora part en quête de son passé et de son histoire familiale: comment expliquer que son père soit mort dans la bataille de la Somme un an avant sa naissance? Ce roman est tour à tour sordide, glaçant et sensible, et ses personnages courageux, lâches, passionnés, en prises aux affres de la guerre mais toujours infiniment humains. Sans doute un des plus beaux récits sur la Première Guerre mondiale que j'aie lu. ( )