Daniel
Pitt longs for the glory days when he was a Flying Ace in WWII. The camaraderie of his fellow pilots and
avoidance of petty squabbles because of the daily reality that some will live
and others will die every time they take to the air in battle. Now, the war is over and he is married to
Rosie, a former wartime nurse. They live
in Ceylon, which Daniel loves and Rosie hates.
They have two children whom Daniel adores. Rosie is continuously demanding they return
to live in England and Daniel is heartbroken, as his love for the natives and
their culture, especially one woman in particular, have to be sacrificed for
his wife’s sanity.
Meanwhile,
Daniel commiserates with his buddy Hugh and is totally oblivious to why his
brother Archie is very troubled beyond his obvious PTSD from the war. Other characters like their gardener, Oily
Wragge, are cheery blokes who save this story from excessive heaviness. The story evolves as everyone eventually has
to grow up and realize that past dreams are gone, if one chooses, and decisions
must be made of how to make a meaningful future. Both Daniel and Rosie give the character
insight into what they believe, don’t believe, and what they are constantly
speculating about; that is what a devastating war does to people, even the
British with their “stiff upper lip.”
Louis
de Bernieres is a superb writer who gives the reader characters we want to meet
and get to know more and more. The plot
is simple but the complexity of character portrayal makes this a sequel one can
enjoy as a stand alone novel. Rather
than stereotype these British characters and their thoughts about colonization,
religion, etc., we instead have several narrative voices who when combined produce
an outstanding work of historical fiction!
Highly
recommended reading! Now this reviewer wants to read the first novel in this
series and looks forward to the next one!
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