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Book Description
A stunning novel of love, betrayal and redemption set amid the turmoil of the First World War.
Product Description
January, 1916, and the rooftops of Leeds creak with the weight of the winter's snows. William Redmond, soon to join the Chapeltown Rifles, wanders with his younger brother Samuel through the old haunts of their childhood - and, there, at the top of the Moor across which they are forbidden to walk, Samuel, for too long trapped in his brother's shadow, stoves William's head in with a stone. When William wakes, it is a different world through which he walks. His brother has vanished, the town is silent, and not a man among them will give up the secret of where he has gone.
On the other side of the water, the fields of France and Belgium are torn apart by war - and, when William discovers that Samuel has been sent to the war in his stead as punishment for what he did upon the Moor, he resolves to go out there and bring him back, to put right what his family has done wrong. This will not be revenge; this will be forgiveness. And so, with the fresh wound of Samuel's attack still screaming at the back of his head, William ventures into the hell of Flanders - a mire of death and disease and deserters - to bring back alive the brother who wanted him dead.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review
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This is a very well-written, thoughtful and at times powerful book. Set in 1916 it uses the events and effects of the First World War to drive a story, thoroughly summarised in other reviews here, which is a meditation on brotherhood, courage and cowardice, sin, forgiveness and redemption. I found it very gripping and thought-provoking.
The narrative uses heightened language which I found entirely appropriate to the time and the story and thought really added to the book. One or two phrases were over-used ("a hailstorm of memories" was very effective the first time, but a bit irritating by the third, for example) but I thought the writing generally excellent. The book has some very clever structural effects - the symmetry between the ends of Parts One and Two, and the reappearance of the phrase "there's been an accident" for example - which aren't just a series of stylistic tricks but are integral to what the author is trying to say.
Unlike some other reviewers, I found the section set in the trenches on the Somme extremely well done. It gave a really vivid view of what it was like to be an individual there and the close-up, messy, personal nature of the fighting and I didn't feel it was in any way a history lesson, nor that I'd read it all before; it seemed new and illuminating to me.
If you're after a fast-paced adventure story, this isn't it. However, it is an intelligent, thoughtful and involving tale with important things to say and I recommend it very warmly.
The narrative uses heightened language which I found entirely appropriate to the time and the story and thought really added to the book. One or two phrases were over-used ("a hailstorm of memories" was very effective the first time, but a bit irritating by the third, for example) but I thought the writing generally excellent. The book has some very clever structural effects - the symmetry between the ends of Parts One and Two, and the reappearance of the phrase "there's been an accident" for example - which aren't just a series of stylistic tricks but are integral to what the author is trying to say.
Unlike some other reviewers, I found the section set in the trenches on the Somme extremely well done. It gave a really vivid view of what it was like to be an individual there and the close-up, messy, personal nature of the fighting and I didn't feel it was in any way a history lesson, nor that I'd read it all before; it seemed new and illuminating to me.
If you're after a fast-paced adventure story, this isn't it. However, it is an intelligent, thoughtful and involving tale with important things to say and I recommend it very warmly.
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review
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I really could not put down this book until I'd reached the finale. I suppose that, coming from the area in West Yorkshire portrayed initially in the story, I would find some empathy with the characters featured. And I did. I grew up in the working class terraces of Bradford rather than the Chapeltown area of Leeds but they are decidedly similar - as are the people of that era.
But this is an emotional ride seen through the eyes of two brothers, the elder seemingly a 'saint' and the younger apparently a 'sinner'. When WWI lurches into their lives, one of the brothers is packed off to join the Chapeltown Rifles (as near as the author can get, I suppose, to the Leeds Rifles who were genuinely sent over to France to fight and die in the trenches), as a punishment for almost killing his brother with a rock. It is the elder brother's own role in his life to search out his brother and try to bring him home.
How the story then unfolds is such an absorbing journey through the mire, the death, the heroism of the youngsters who fought on our behalf and how the characters of the two brothers change over this brief time-span. That they are only sixteen and eighteen tells us a great deal and the author magnificently captures the atmosphere and lives of not only the brothers but also the 'extras' within the story.
I urge you to read this book. A compelling narrative within a hugely emotional story at a time when our understanding of life was a great deal different from that of today. We've all moved on but when brotherly love (and hate) takes centre stage, has anything changed? I think not.
A cracking good novel.
But this is an emotional ride seen through the eyes of two brothers, the elder seemingly a 'saint' and the younger apparently a 'sinner'. When WWI lurches into their lives, one of the brothers is packed off to join the Chapeltown Rifles (as near as the author can get, I suppose, to the Leeds Rifles who were genuinely sent over to France to fight and die in the trenches), as a punishment for almost killing his brother with a rock. It is the elder brother's own role in his life to search out his brother and try to bring him home.
How the story then unfolds is such an absorbing journey through the mire, the death, the heroism of the youngsters who fought on our behalf and how the characters of the two brothers change over this brief time-span. That they are only sixteen and eighteen tells us a great deal and the author magnificently captures the atmosphere and lives of not only the brothers but also the 'extras' within the story.
I urge you to read this book. A compelling narrative within a hugely emotional story at a time when our understanding of life was a great deal different from that of today. We've all moved on but when brotherly love (and hate) takes centre stage, has anything changed? I think not.
A cracking good novel.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
What a shame that this book is not yet available in the USA; after reading about it online (Sunday Guardian?) I ordered it along with two other novels from England. This book stands with the best of Pat Barker's novels about the First World War. The consistency of focus, tone, progression of themes, control over language are all excellent. Some set pieces in the novel, such as the story told by a character in the novel of how Christ harrowed hell to find even Judas Iscariot, are moving and as worthy of attention as similar almost-stand-alone passages from Doestoevsky and Greene. The author avoids simplistic answers to complex issues, much to his credit. I'm trying to figure out which of my friends I'm going to give this book to first.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Family, guilt and redemption set against the backdrop of war
It is perhaps unfair to compare The Harrowing with Pat Barker's Regeneration Trilogy rather than entirely on its own merits, but given that I was attracted to this book having been... Read more
Published 14 months ago by Adam Bartleby
Put yourself in his shoes
Robert Dinsdale's "The Harrowing" is (yet another!) world war one novel - but incongruously one that sidelines the whole conflict (although the novel's biggest set piece is the... Read more
Published 15 months ago by Frank The G
Superlative Novel of Family at War
I picked this up because of another reviewer's comparison to Pat Barker's Billy Prior novels. Perhaps the comparison isn't apt - but this is still a superlative piece of war... Read more
Published 16 months ago by David
Scarlet foamed on his lips. His eyes rolled back. It was done.
A grim story of war and sibling rivalry, I wanted to enjoy this as it opens in Leeds and there was some nostalgia in recognising some of the street names and landmarks of my... Read more
Published 16 months ago by Eileen Shaw
I ploughed through for a while....
The Guardian review for this book, as quoted on the rear cover, commends the books war scenes but tellingly misses out the rest of the review in which the critic ultimately found... Read more
Published 22 months ago by A. Mackintosh
Slow, emotional drama
A story of two brothers, growing up in a poor part of Leeds in wartime. Jealousy causes the younger brother to attempt to kill his older sibling. Read more
Published on 18 Mar 2010 by S. Diment
What would you do?
Your brother lives in your shadow and you both fancy the same girl. Eventually your brother loses it and tries to kill you by stoving in your skull with a rock leaving you for... Read more
Published on 26 Nov 2009 by Tox
Something different!
I'm a big reader of historical narratives, but found myself wondering, when I picked up The Harrowing by R Dinsdale, if there was room for another story of the Great War? Read more
Published on 8 Oct 2009 by Casey Scott
Haunting and unforgettable
At first I didn't know what to make of Robert Dinsdale's "The Harrowing". Is it a war novel like Birdsong? Or a more intimate family affair? Read more
Published on 8 Oct 2009 by G. Thwaite
A Harrowing Story
The Harrowing
The interpretation of the title 'The Harrowing' will influence how one approaches this book. Read more
The interpretation of the title 'The Harrowing' will influence how one approaches this book. Read more
Published on 29 Sep 2009 by Dr. James F. Mckellican
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