No Graves as Yet

Anne Perry's new series is off to a great start with "No Graves as Yet." Her historical fiction is well researched and her characters portray the feeling and attitudes of the day. When I finished reading this book, I couldn't wait for next one. I'm currently reading the last book in this series of five that have been progressively riveting. I feel that I'ved learned much about the British perspective of World War I from these novels and why these wars had such a huge influence on British life and attitudes even today. The effect on the U.S. is negligible by comparison.

Anne Perry has developed great depth and skill since her early novels. I think if one is expecting simply a murder/detective mystery one might be put off by the social and moral issues that are at the center of this book. The glimpses of Cambridge University and Britain's Intelligence Service in 1914 are wonderful. The characters are so real that I cried several times practically from the beginning of the book. I can't wait for the next book to arrive.

I would encourage potential readers to ignore the several negative reviews of this novel that have been posted here.My graduate work was in history and I have at least a passing familiarity with the history of World War One. With No Graves As Yet, Anne Perry has written a wonderfully thoughtful and evocative portrait of England during the summer of 1914, just before the start of the Great War. Her tone and feeling for the time and milieu is absolutley perfect.

I am frankly astonished at the reviews of this fine book appearing on this site. No Graves as Yet is a beautifully crafted and entirely convincing portrayal of the intellectual climate of England at the beginning of the Great War and serves as the entry portal to what promises to be a subtle and evocative examination of the moral issues that faced England in 1914-18. The mystery is secondary to the evaluation of the question of what issues justify war, and the picture drawn of Cambridge in the summer of 1914 is the necessary predicate for the broader picture that will, presumably, be sketched in the remainder of the series. If the Reavely characters seem a bit callow in this novel, it is because their characters, assumptions and world views have not yet been tested. This story, involving the seemingly accidental death of their parents, begins the process of testing the assumptions by which Edwardian England lived and which were shattered by the experiences of the war. While I think this novel is beautifully written and the characters a good deal subtler than other reviewers, by all means reading this novel should be followed immediately by reading its sequel Shoulder the Sky, which carries the story into the war through May, 1915 and gives a better feel of the author's overall plan for the series. I recommend both books most highly.