Me Among the Ruins (The Journals of Bartholomew Bandy, Vol. 4)

One of the most brilliantly funny series of books ever written came to its original conclusion with this title. Although Donald Jack has subsequently produced later works on Bandy's further adventures, these seem as something of a revisionist afterthought, albeit equally well crafted as the first 4 in the original series. Me Among The Ruins, later incorporated as a section into the larger 4th book of the expanded series, manages to be both as laugh-out-loud funny as the earlier 3 books and also at times strikingly poignant with Kathryn's untimely death and Bandy's final reunion with his family in Canada. Donald Jack creates an interesting juxtaposition of hilarity and sadness that gives the whole sequence of the first 4 books a sense of being a farcical tragedy in which essentially only Bandy himself is left standing undefeated by the world.

The gent from Worksop has it right. This is a bit of a summation with the bitter sorrow of Kathryn's death a true disappointment to readers of the previous books in the series. Otherwise holds true to the high standard of ridiculous-ness established in the other books of the series. Historical fiction fans of everyone from George MacDonald Fraser's Flashman to Rowan Atkinson's Blackadder will find this series a Hoot!.

Bandy, sent home to Canada to boost the war effort disgraces himself with the aplomb of an innocent in town - but restores his honour with a successful campaign in Russia. Two things only spoilt this book for me. The sad death of Bandy's wife, Kathryn, and the feeling the author was 'tidying-up' in order to bring the series to a close, ending as it did with Bandy once more at home in the bosom of his family. The fact more books appeared in the series proved a great relief on the one hand, but an almost impossible task in tracing copies(within the U.K) on the other. Despite this these books represent the most enjoyable reading I have ever had.