1920. The Great War has been over for two years, and it has left a very different world from the Edwardian certainties of 1914. Following the death of his wife and baby and his experiences on the Western Front, Laurence Bartram has become something of a recluse. Yet death and the aftermath of the conflict continue to cast a pall over peacetime England, and when a young woman he once knew persuades him to look into events that apparently led her brother, John Emmett, to kill himself, Laurence is forced to revisit the darkest parts of the war. As Laurence unravels the connections between Captain Emmett's suicide, a group of war poets, a bitter regimental feud and a hidden love affair, more disquieting deaths are exposed. Even at the moment Laurence begins to live again, it dawns on him that nothing is as it seems, and that even those closest to him have their secrets . . .
The Return of Captain John Emmett
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'The new BIRDSONG - only better' --INDEPENDENT
'This fabulously enjoyable novel has absolutely everything. Speller's writing is gorgeous, her research immaculate and very lightly worn. Sheer bliss' --Kate Saunders, THE TIMES
`With its portrait of a war-blighted nation, Elizabeth Speller's gripping first novel shares territory with Pat Barker's Regeneration trilogy . . . This is a remarkable piece of storytelling . . . Equally impressive is Speller's portrait of a fearful and class-ridden England after the armistice' --FINANCIAL TIMES
'This fabulously enjoyable novel has absolutely everything. Speller's writing is gorgeous, her research immaculate and very lightly worn. Sheer bliss' --Kate Saunders, THE TIMES
`With its portrait of a war-blighted nation, Elizabeth Speller's gripping first novel shares territory with Pat Barker's Regeneration trilogy . . . This is a remarkable piece of storytelling . . . Equally impressive is Speller's portrait of a fearful and class-ridden England after the armistice' --FINANCIAL TIMES
Book Description
* London, just after WW1, but the men and women caught up in the battle have not yet found peace * 'Covering death, poetry, a bitter regimental feud and a hidden love affair, it's set to be the new BIRDSONG - only better' INDEPENDENT
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
22 of 24 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
"In years to come, Laurence Bartram would look back and think that the event that really changed his life was not the war or the attack at Rosières, nor even the loss of his wife, but the return of Captain John Emmett ..."
Laurence Bartram is one of many whose lives were changed forever by the Great War. He endured the horrors of the Western Front, but he lost his wife in childbirth.After the war he had no need to work and no purpose. He became reclusive, staying at home, writing a book that he knew he would never finish.
But then he received a letter from somebody that he remembered well, even though he hadn't seen her for years: Mary, the sister of his school-friend, John Emmett. Why, she wonders, did her brother survive the war only to kill himself? Can Lawrence, the only friend her brother ever brought home from school, help her to understand?
Laurence is drawn to Mary and he accepts her commission. It leads him into a complex mystery, and involving - without giving too much away - the nursing home where Emmett was a patient, a group of war poets, and a horrific wartime incident.
The mystery is clever and well structured, but it is rather too reliant on coincidences. And one or two things felt rather contrived. But I could forgive this book those failings. The important things are in it favour.
The story revealed was so powerful, and had so much to say about the strengths and weaknesses of humanity, the burden of knowledge, the horrors of war, and the iniquities of the class system.
Elizabeth Speller's write beautifully and is a fine storyteller. She has clearly done her research and, through the testimony of her characters, time, place and emotions come to life so vividly.
Those characters, lightly sketched, have faded from my mind, but their stories and their emotions have stayed with me. And those stories and emotions speak not just for those characters but for a generation.
Laurence Bartram is one of many whose lives were changed forever by the Great War. He endured the horrors of the Western Front, but he lost his wife in childbirth.After the war he had no need to work and no purpose. He became reclusive, staying at home, writing a book that he knew he would never finish.
But then he received a letter from somebody that he remembered well, even though he hadn't seen her for years: Mary, the sister of his school-friend, John Emmett. Why, she wonders, did her brother survive the war only to kill himself? Can Lawrence, the only friend her brother ever brought home from school, help her to understand?
Laurence is drawn to Mary and he accepts her commission. It leads him into a complex mystery, and involving - without giving too much away - the nursing home where Emmett was a patient, a group of war poets, and a horrific wartime incident.
The mystery is clever and well structured, but it is rather too reliant on coincidences. And one or two things felt rather contrived. But I could forgive this book those failings. The important things are in it favour.
The story revealed was so powerful, and had so much to say about the strengths and weaknesses of humanity, the burden of knowledge, the horrors of war, and the iniquities of the class system.
Elizabeth Speller's write beautifully and is a fine storyteller. She has clearly done her research and, through the testimony of her characters, time, place and emotions come to life so vividly.
Those characters, lightly sketched, have faded from my mind, but their stories and their emotions have stayed with me. And those stories and emotions speak not just for those characters but for a generation.
33 of 38 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
When Captain John Emmett returns from France at the end of World War I, his mother and sister are worried about his mental condition. John is suffering from shell-shock, which is causing him to become aggressive and violent. After spending some time in a nursing home, John escapes and is later found dead in a nearby wood. It is assumed that he committed suicide.
John's sister, Mary, contacts one of her brother's old school friends, Laurence Bartram, in the hope that he can help her discover what really happened to her brother. Why would a man who had survived the horrors of the war shoot himself two years later? As Laurence starts to investigate, he begins to wonder whether someone else was behind John's death.
The Return of Captain John Emmett is a fascinating story. It works well as a historical fiction novel, with its portrayal of the people of 1920s Britain coming to terms with the aftermath of World War I. But it's also a gripping psychological mystery in which Laurence Bartram reluctantly takes on the role of detective to investigate the circumstances surrounding his friend's death. There are clues, suspects, red herrings and all the other elements that make up a compelling and well-structured detective story.
The book is also an interesting and poignant study into the effects, both long-term and short-term, that the war had on individuals and their families. How people came back from the war an entirely different person to when they went away. How men dealt with the memories of the atrocities they witnessed. How their wives felt about the part of their husbands' lives that they had been unable to share. How people were left with physical disabilities and had to learn to adjust. Read more ›
John's sister, Mary, contacts one of her brother's old school friends, Laurence Bartram, in the hope that he can help her discover what really happened to her brother. Why would a man who had survived the horrors of the war shoot himself two years later? As Laurence starts to investigate, he begins to wonder whether someone else was behind John's death.
The Return of Captain John Emmett is a fascinating story. It works well as a historical fiction novel, with its portrayal of the people of 1920s Britain coming to terms with the aftermath of World War I. But it's also a gripping psychological mystery in which Laurence Bartram reluctantly takes on the role of detective to investigate the circumstances surrounding his friend's death. There are clues, suspects, red herrings and all the other elements that make up a compelling and well-structured detective story.
The book is also an interesting and poignant study into the effects, both long-term and short-term, that the war had on individuals and their families. How people came back from the war an entirely different person to when they went away. How men dealt with the memories of the atrocities they witnessed. How their wives felt about the part of their husbands' lives that they had been unable to share. How people were left with physical disabilities and had to learn to adjust. Read more ›
11 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
A good concept - the mystery of a man shot by a firing squad, a photograph of the squad and the death of those involved.
This has all the basics for a fine thriller. Ms Speller writes well and we do feel the time - and we like the protagonost Lawrence who is, like so many in the First war, a damaged man.
I was gripped until half-way through and thought, yes, what a great book - and then, and then, why did the critics rate this so highly? It is way too long.
I liked this book - but I won't buy another by the author until she makes sure the plot carries the reader all the way and does not waste 100 pages.
This has all the basics for a fine thriller. Ms Speller writes well and we do feel the time - and we like the protagonost Lawrence who is, like so many in the First war, a damaged man.
I was gripped until half-way through and thought, yes, what a great book - and then, and then, why did the critics rate this so highly? It is way too long.
I liked this book - but I won't buy another by the author until she makes sure the plot carries the reader all the way and does not waste 100 pages.
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
By Viv
Format:Paperback
These mysteries set post WWI are becoming a genre in their own right - think Jacqueline Winspear, Frances Brody, Charles Todd ... no doubt there are others I haven't discovered yet. Elizabeth Speller chucks in all the usual ingredients of shell shock, firing squads, feisty nurses etc etc - in fact I think she throws in a bit too many of these elements and I wonder what is left for her second book. She writes well though, perhaps the best among the above named, and both I and my husband enjoyed this book - I always think it is a good sign when a book appeals to both men and women. These books set in the aftermath of war can have a tendency to incline towards "misery fiction" but Elizabeth Speller does allow at least some of her characters to have some glimmers of light and hope in their lives and I like the way she shows over the course of the book how Captain Bartram begins to look to the future again. This makes the book a more enjoyable read (to me at least) than say the Charles Todd books where the unfortunate policeman Rutledge has to endure having the voice of the dead Hamish in his head.
Having said that it does none of us any harm to remember what this generation had to go through; the horrors of WWI, the ghastliness of life without the welfare state in the 20's and 30's, and then, after a mere 20 years, the apocalypse of fascism and war yet again. People of my generation need to remember how lucky most of us have been ... how would we have fared had we been tested as these poor souls were?
In conclusion, I'd recommend this book as a good mystery , exploring serious issues, and sensitively written.
Having said that it does none of us any harm to remember what this generation had to go through; the horrors of WWI, the ghastliness of life without the welfare state in the 20's and 30's, and then, after a mere 20 years, the apocalypse of fascism and war yet again. People of my generation need to remember how lucky most of us have been ... how would we have fared had we been tested as these poor souls were?
In conclusion, I'd recommend this book as a good mystery , exploring serious issues, and sensitively written.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Not yet read
Another book downloaded to kindle and not yet read. Would expect it to be alright. Another read for the holiday
Published 2 months ago by Mr. Frederick Fox
2.0 out of 5 stars
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...
This book is billed as 'The new Birdsong - only better' (The Independent) on the front cover...(laughs heartily) I THINK NOT!
Published 2 months ago by G. Eddleston
2.0 out of 5 stars
Catafalque - what the ???? does that mean?
The description of what is central to the plot of the novel is well written and (appropriately) truly uncomfortable. Read more
Published 3 months ago by andy
4.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting
I found this quite a good read. It's set just after the end of the First World War and brings that era alive. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Phoebe Stubbington
2.0 out of 5 stars
Better writers have dealt with this subject
If you are interested in the subject of soldiers shot for cowardice I would point you in the direction of William Broderick's A Whispered Name, if you are interested in the subject... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Jo67
4.0 out of 5 stars
Captain John Emmett
Lots of characters could be confusing but I was unable to put the book down so the characters were fresh in my mind as I read. I was kept guessing until the very end. Read more
Published 6 months ago by joho
3.0 out of 5 stars
Absolutely NOT the new 'Birdsong'
I enjoyed this enough to think I will probably read the sequel but anyone expecting it to even come close to the emotional impact of Birdsong will be disappointed. Read more
Published 11 months ago by Lilith
4.0 out of 5 stars
Thoroughly enjoyed this
I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. It's a bit different and I was kept guessing as to where we were going next. Read more
Published 11 months ago by scotshopper
3.0 out of 5 stars
An author in need of better editing
This is the first novel I've read by this author & initially I was quite impressed by her style. Her research was good and she set the background well, managing to avoid any... Read more
Published 12 months ago by Sue B.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Certainly a book worth reading.
I know this era and subject has been covered in many books, ranging from the worthy and sombre to the melodramatic and maudlin; this fitted in between and provides a very... Read more
Published 12 months ago by Hils T
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