Given the book's title and cover, some may mistakenly think this is a 'war novel' - I can assure you that it's not. Most of the events take place on British soil, it's just that the majority of the story takes place during WW1 and involves a few characters that have indeed fought in the trenches.
This is a novel that grabbed and gripped my attention from the very first page. It is 1987 and 70 year old Leonora Galloway has decided to take her daughter Penelope on holiday with her to Paris. There are a couple of reasons why Leonora has decided to share this trip with Penelope. She has always been guarded about revealing much of her past to Penelope, so wants to use this break as a means to open up about her childhood, and reveal the traumatic events that occurred whilst living in a large sprawling house, known as Meongate. This journey to France also marks a new beginning for Leonora, because a few months earlier her husband had suddenly and unexpectedly died from a heart attack.
While in Paris, Leonora decides to take Penelope on an excursion to Thiepval Memorial in Picardy, which most readers will recognise as the location of a huge monument that poignantly honours over 72000 soldiers who sadly died in the Battles of the Somme, during the First World War. It's here that Penelope sees that her maternal grandfather's name is listed among those that lost their lives.
This is a tantalising and finely crafted tale that deals with family secrets, mysterious dissapearances, a murder, and some rather strange shenanigans. Goddard switches the first-person narrative a few times, so that different characters offer up various 'versions' of the truth. Under a less accomplished author this method of storytelling could have ended up as a bit of a dog's dinner. However, this is Goddard we're talking about here, who is a master at his craft - so much so that I never once lost the thread of the tale. I would add that I thought there were perhaps a few more twists than was necessary - but this was still a cracking novel all the same. If I was scoring this marks out of ten, I'd give it a 9 (which equates to 5 Amazon stars). If you like pacy, compelling, meaty mysteries told with beautiful, lyrical prose then 'In Pale Battalions' is well worth your consideration, and should easily keep you enthralled and entertained for a few hours.
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![In Pale Battalions by [Robert Goddard]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51OtXwkxQ4L._SY346_.jpg)
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