Waves of Glory

Came upon this title randomly and decided to take a chance, and I was actually pleasantly surprised. The novel ends up coming off rather like Jeff Shaara's novels, but with considerably more grit. The story is a collage of horrific combat, stiff-upper-lip courage, obsession, vengeance, politics, visceral emotional conflicts, destroyed psyches and unabashed, unembarrassed romantic liaisons. The novel is definitely a page-turner, with a good mix of excitement, romance, and pathos. It takes place during 1916 and 1917 and follows a family through the darkest parts of World War I. The story follows three primary paths, centering around Brenda, the American widow of a Royal Navy officer killed in action; Randolph, her brother-in-law, a fighter pilot in the RFC; and Lloyd, Randolph's other brother, a colonel in the Royal Army stationed in the trenches. We accompany these characters and their friends, relatives, comrades and lovers through brutal combat, horrific injuries, emotional breakdowns, dangerous obsessions, and ultimately up to and beyond each person's breaking point. The time frame this story covers is particularly interesting as well. The war is in its third year and both the fighting men and the folks at home have lost any semblance of the enthusiasm of 1914. The war has dragged on, the casualties are into the millions of men, and the vast majority of the population have lost all faith in their military leadership after the disasters of the Ypres, the Somme, Jutland and countless other battlefields. The men at the front suffer horrific wounds and deaths, while the civilian population in Britain watch their sons and brothers leave for a slaughter without end or any apparent purpose; most don't come back and those that do are maimed or irrevocably emotionally damaged or both. The Americans have yet to enter the war, morale is at an all-time low, and people are beginning to turn on each other - this is highlighted especially by the animosity that develops between Brenda and her British father-in-law. The author has chosen an interesting period that provides an excellent frame for his portrait study of emotional and mental strain. The characters and dialog are well developed and believable, if a bit typical for this type of novel. The writing was strong and the author's voice is authentic as is his understanding of the history. The author does an excellent job of balancing the flow of the story through the nuts-and-bolts of the era's technology, the politics of the time, the excitement and horror of the fighting and the drama of the interpersonal relationships and romance. This was a pleasing read, and I'd recommend it for anyone who enjoys the novels of Jeff Shaara, or Bernard Cornwell, or the works of Stephen Ambrose. I look forward to reading the author's follow up.