Lucy Beresford
Battlefields of Life
We That Are Left
By Clare Clark
Harvill Secker 450pp £16.99
The Iron Necklace
By Giles Waterfield
Allen & Unwin 435pp £12.99
The First World War has been the subject of countless books over the years, and no more so than now, during the ongoing centenary commemorations. Two new and rather similar sweeping novels explore the ripples and ruptures to society brought about by the trauma of four years of fighting.
Clare Clark’s focus, as the title of her carefully plotted We That Are Left implies, is mainly on those who never fought – because they were too young, too old or female – but who were still affected by the battles across the Channel. Some of her characters seize on the opportunities available to their sex or class, while others remain unsure whether to embrace this new world or wait patiently for the old one to rock gently back onto its axis.
It’s an old conceit, but one Clark injects with some degree of novelty by having the status quo represented not by a person but by Ellinghurst, the Melville family’s estate in the New Forest. Sir Aubrey wants to save it for future generations; cousin Evelyn can’t wait to sell it
Sign Up to our newsletter
Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.@Lit_Review
Follow Literary Review on Twitter
Twitter Feed
Knowledge of Sufism increased markedly with the publication in 1964 of The Sufis, by Idries Shah. Nowadays his writings, much like his father’s, are dismissed for their Orientalism and inaccuracy.
@fitzmorrissey investigates who the Shahs really were.
Fitzroy Morrissey - Sufism Goes West
Fitzroy Morrissey: Sufism Goes West - Empire’s Son, Empire’s Orphan: The Fantastical Lives of Ikbal and Idries Shah by Nile Green
literaryreview.co.uk
Rats have plagued cities for centuries. But in Baltimore, researchers alighted on one surprising solution to the problem of rat infestation: more rats.
@WillWiles looks at what lessons can be learned from rat ecosystems – for both rats and humans.
Will Wiles - Puss Gets the Boot
Will Wiles: Puss Gets the Boot - Rat City: Overcrowding and Urban Derangement in the Rodent Universes of John B ...
literaryreview.co.uk
Twisters features destructive tempests and blockbuster action sequences.
@JonathanRomney asks what the real danger is in Lee Isaac Chung's disaster movie.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/eyes-of-the-storm