- Paperback
- Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton Ltd; Trade Paperback edition (18 May 2000)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0340767278
- ISBN-13: 978-0340767276
- Product Dimensions: 17.2 x 11 x 2.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 29,054 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
The Soldier's Return
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
The end of World War Two has to be one of Britain's most dewy-eyed, rose-tinted memories. Yearned for years in advance--Dame Vera Lynn built an entire career on such yearning--it spelled the end of the anguishing waiting, the terrible deprivations overseas and Johnny asleep in his own little bed again. It takes a good novel to make new all the hackneyed emotion of the moment, and a great one to reveal, without sensationalising, the doubts behind the smiles. In that case, this may be a great novel.
By the time corporal Sam Richardson returns from Burma to his Cumbrian hometown of Wigton, the bunting's long gone, and Sam, like everybody else, wants to get back to normal. But his plans to return to family life with Ellen and six- year-old son Joe don't run smooth. The war has taken away his old job, while Ellen holds down two; Joe's been raised with other men as father-figures; and Sam struggles to repress what he's witnessed out east. In The Soldier's Return Bragg explores the most unsettling of experiences: returning to a normality that's no longer normal. In Sam, with his undemonstrative reserve and irrational suspicions, he creates a man who cannot heal the mental scars of active service. While Bragg affectingly evokes Cumbria in the 40s, with a sure-footed sense of that time and place's idiom, this is no exercise in nostalgia, but a book whose concerns--how to deal with the happy ending of war--are only too resonant today. --Alan Stewart --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
Review
Paradoxically, one of this era's most ubiquitous media voices writes with tremendous empathy about the vanished culture of least said, soonest mended ... one of the tautest and fiercest of Bragg's fictions, alongside FOR WANT OF A NAIL, THE HIRED MAN and THE MAID OF BUTTERMERE.' -- Independent 'Reads like Lawrence without the lunacy and stodginess. It packs an emotional punch that will even have cynics sobbing by the last page. All of us hanker after unconditional love, the memory of our father's arms around us. THE SOLDIER'S RETURN feels like the book Bragg was born to write' -- Time Out 'Sympathetic, touching, infinitely believable...this is a highly accomplished novel' -- Literary Review 'Strong, straightforward, explicit, evocative ... a very good novel ... It is common to compare Bragg to Hardy, Lawrence and Housman as a novelist of place, but more than anyone he reminds me of JB Priestley. He has the same much underrated strengths' -- Daily Telegraph 'Bragg recaptures a place and society utterly lost to us today...A great achievement... THE SOLDIER'S RETURN is about the turmoil of those who, while fully aware of what is going on inside themselves, remain inariculate not because they are unaware of their thoughts and feelings, but out of stoicism and self-respect - out of an inborn triat which they perversely foster, on the assumption that this approach to life will cause less suffering in the end. It is a good subject for a novelist to explore, and Melvyn Bragg does it most impressively' -- Guardian
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This was a compelling read. At the same time I wanted to make it last and absorb the atmosphere. It was very evocative of the post-war period and the 3 main protagonists were sympathetically drawn, particularly Ellen. As a woman, I found Bragg's observation of her character particularly sensitive and could easily identify with her emotional turmoil. I think many women found the war years a liberating experience, whereas their soldier husbands dreamed of returning to a peaceful and comfortable marriage. The problems of re-adjustment for the husband, the wife and for the child, are sensitively explored by Bragg in this well-written novel evocative of both time and place.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
As a person whose mother was born and raised in Wigton ( 6 years older than Melvyn Bragg) and whose grandmother owned the bakery shop during the war and lived in the big house between Water St and Market Hill for the rest of her life,I was raised in London but spent my childhood summer holidays running the streets and alleys of Wigton. Bragg took me with him through all these memories with absolute accuracy .Even though my experiences were 20 years after Joes they seemed exactly the same. However, even given this delight it was the movement of the relationships that really makes this book. Sam and Ellen and their entirely different visions and Joe caught up in both. This is a really excellent book.
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This was a book club book and so I was required to read it! Not sure I would have naturally leaned toward reading it otherwise.
However - it was a good read. Not a non-stop read but a book that you eagerly returned to time and again. Its images are still in my head several months later - so it must have had an impact! It was not a particularly sentimental novel but comes across as very real - a believeable, non glossy, non tear jerking,reflection of the times.
I loved the style of Mr Bragg and look forward to discovering more of his novels.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
A riveting read
This was the first Melvyn Bragg I had ever read, and I loved it so much that I was inspired to get more of his books straight away. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Mrs. V. M. Leonard
Worth Reading
This is a wonderful book. Melvyn Bragg is a really good writer and the dialogue just flows and makes the book very easy to read. Read more
Published on 21 Jan 2010 by D. Anderson
Enjoyable
I quite enjoyed this book, but do wonder at the quality of his others if this is considered his 'masterpiece' as stated on the front cover. Read more
Published on 12 Oct 2009 by Helena
Richly evocative and atmospheric
Bragg's novel about the return of his father from the Burmese war is richly evocative of the period. Read more
Published on 4 May 2009 by Martin Moran
Realistic fiction
This is a book that really brings a reality check to the illusion that once the Second World War ended, everything would be fine and would go back to being as it was before the... Read more
Published on 30 April 2009 by Mr X
Marvellous
This was a brilliant book - I read it after 'Remember Me' but wish I had read it before because it provided background to the main character (Bragg? Read more
Published on 16 April 2009 by Dawn Dyer
A nice little read, but not a literary prizewinner
I have awarded this book only three stars for two reasons. The first being that although I enjoyed it very much I would have preferred if the story could have been written with a... Read more
Published on 28 Nov 2003
Old-fashioned tale of post-war life.
Melvyn Bragg's The Soldier's Return is the age-old story of a young man who goes off to World War II and returns to find his world totally changed. Read more
Published on 22 Sep 2003 by Mary Whipple
A book that leads you into the world of post ww2
This book gives a detailed insight into post war Wigton. Sam@s inner most thoughts come to the fore, his struggle to resume normal life after his part in the war. Read more
Published on 2 Jun 2002 by mjcpotter@fsbusiness.co.uk
A comparison between the paperback and the audiobook version
Having both the paperback and the audiobook version of The Soldier's Return I was very disappointed in the audiobook version. Read more
Published on 29 May 2002 by Donald C. Barton
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