A Common Glory

Whether you enjoy tender romance, WWII stories, southern history or the introduction to different cultures, this book has it all. You'll laugh, you'll cry, and you'll learn to love people who think and live very differently. Robert Middlemiss uses his experience and knowledge of both the American South and England to give us rare insights into life during the early 1940's. This book is especially recommended to persons of a `certain age' who have early memories of the south during WWII and those who are interested in learning the experience of living during that period.

While I am not generally one who turns to romances when I get a chance to spend a day or two with a good book, this book was recommended to me and I gave it a shot. Wow! Robert Middlemiss has created a warm love story with bite, a story of two lovers who wouldn't have met but for WW II and then are consumed by its fires. Middlemiss has captured that period of the forties when segregation was still the rule, people were beginning to feel the first stirrings of the injustice done to a race of people, and the world was in turmoil in fear of Nazi Germany. That two people could fall together in this backdrop of uncertainty and share something wonderful, reminds one in more ways than one that even in dark periods the seeds of hope are regenerating. Truly a masterful work. Doreen and George will live long in my memories and their message will live longer.

This is first and foremost a good story with interesting and likeable characters. The author paints a picture of two people from very different cultures who overcome cultural differences while facing the separations and stress of war. It is evident to me, having lived in both the southern United States and England, that Middlemiss has done his homework. He also writes very well! It's a good read!

This novel covers a very interesting and relatively unknown aspect of World War II. I grew up in Georgia, and I did not know about our participation in the training of British aviators. The historical aspect, along with the British view of segregation is facinating. The love story is touching and believalbe,and there is enough technical information to let you know that Mr. Middlemiss knows his way around a cockpit. As Mr. Middlemiss may be unknown to many, I would say that fans of Lavyle Spencer would really like this one.

A romance set against the backdrop of war is not new. Usually the soldier is "over-sexed" and "over-there", i.e. a WWII American GI in England. However, this time the soldier turned airman is over here and in the deep south. Middlemiss has a talent for creating an atmosphere through prose laced with sights, sounds and smells. The reader is immediately transported to a small Georgia town and immersed in its culture, for better or worse. As the romance develops, Doreen (the Georgia "belle") introduces George (the British air instructor) to southern life, and begins to question some of those ways as she sees them through George's eyes and experiences. The novel is firmly based in fact and represents a small town's contribution to the war effort. The lives that were lost and the hearts that were broken are by far not a small contribution. There is probably some "steel magnolia" out there whose life closely parallels that of the novel's heroine. I enjoyed the novel and recommend it as both a war story and a romance.