Book Club of War

  One of the many interesting discussions I have been involved in of late has been about the writing and recording of combat experiences and how reliable or not those accounts are. Some of the first books we all read on the wars is those of soldiers, sailors and airmen and their personal experiences, their involvement in war, what they saw and felt.   We get drawn in by the excitement, heroism, action, and outcomes. A lot of time we have read these in isolation without being able to share with others that have our interest and without understanding the wider context. In some ways that comes with age and experience. Social Media has enabled people from all over the world to come together and discuss all aspects of war and the question of “Reconstructing and Recording combat experiences in World War 1 and Second World War” keeps coming to the fore. As we understand more, we start to question the evidence in front of us. We start to understand how these accounts are written a...

  The brilliant thing with this book is how easy it is to read.    A really beautiful flow of words with a plot that is easy to follow. Out of the Desert: Danger Close… is book one in the wings of victory series.   It starts in 1940 in Egypt and follows the story of a young ambitious Royal Air Force pilot Peter Denhay who is posted to an operational bomber squadron at the start of a major Italian offensive into Egypt. This is a story of relationships, of suspicion that there is a double agent operating in their midst, of intelligence and of the XXI squadron and their battles though Egypt, Create and mainland Greece. The intensity of the last air battle leaves you breathless, you live the fight through these brilliant characters. The author Tom Walker has written a brilliant part one to the series.   His writing is detailed but with a real pace in the story.   He has captured a real part of history that is well researched and woven a fantastic fictiona...

  Books of World War 2 fiction sometimes get frowned upon.   I have read quotes such as “Why write fiction when the facts are so fascinating” “World War 2 books of fiction do not have the intrigue and suspense of the non-fiction books”. ‘When Darkness Comes’ dispels all those myths and so much more. This is a story of three lives intertwined within the World War 2, based in Paris in 1942.   This story is about hope, about courage, about conviction, about love and about the humanity of helping other people. Together these three people hide Jewish refugees, giving them new identities and leading them to safety.    They appear almost invincible in their efforts, overcoming obstacles, defying danger until an innocent old man, walking his dog, notices something out of the ordinary, a coincidental action that has far reaching consequences. The author John Anthony Miller has created a power force of a book in ‘When Darkness Comes’.   The writing is well rese...