Graham Steward
Men At Arms
The Guardsmen: Harold Macmillan, Four Friends and the World They Made
By Simon Ball
HarperCollins 480pp £25 order from our bookshop
So MANY EDWARDIAN biographies are brought to a close by death and severance on the Western Front that it is almost refreshing to find a book which takes the slaughter as its point of commencement. Instead of ending with the loss of life and the breaking of bonds, The Guardsmen emphasises the extent to which that war shaped the outlook of four Etonians and their subsequent careers in public life and the Conservative Party.
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
'She must pretend to be a walking companion, observe without being noticed and paint the subject from memory, in secret. It's a superb metaphor for the female artist, hidden from history.'
@nclarke14 ponders the resonance of 'Portrait of a Lady on Fire'.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/portraits-of-ladies
'And there in the evening the bride and the gamekeeper
Wait with their faces averted, wait
For the signal to shift and the lamp to glow red
And a train to arrive, but not yet and not yet.'
'It Says Here', from Sean O'Brien's upcoming collection.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/it-says-here
https://literaryreview.co.uk/here-there-everywhere-2
Everyone must have been queueing up to review the new Craig Brown Beatles book, which is obviously brilliant – but kudos to @Lit_Review and @DrDominicGreen for conspiring to bring us this bravura reviewing performance (free to read)