A plodding but poignant World War One narrative about two brothers at war, with each other and in the trenches. There's nothing here that really sets this novel apart from the hundreds of others about the Great War - VADs, conscientious objectors, lovers and families back in Blighty - but Trevor definitely has a way with words when tackling the horror and loss of that time: 'The mud moved, alive with its sores and parasites, all the brave phrases wallowing, the dignity of man, the mud smothering, the sovereignty of nations, the mud sucking and not letting go, the will to win and glory on the field, here the glory and here the field, say what you will.' In fact, Trevor's hard line on the futility of fighting over a strip of uninhabitable mud, along with camaraderie and droll dialogue of the men in the trenches, had me thinking that this was a contemporary account of the war, but Elleston Trevor was actually born in 1920! Hard-hitting, but only rank-and-file. ( )

This is a very moving story about brothers in the British forces in world war 1. They have different reasons for being there and have different experiences. It is very much the British counterpart of "All Quiet on the Western Front", and has the same feeling of the tragic waste of precious lives in the name of war. I started reading it to get it off my bookshelf and sold to a book exchange, but its a keeper! ( )