Birdsong: The Novel of the Great War - Softcover

Sebastian Faulks

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0099387913 ISBN 13: 9780099387916

Publisher: Vintage, 1994

Synopsis

Set before and during the great war, Birdsong captures the drama of that era on both a national and a personal scale. It is the story of Stephen, a young Englishman, who arrives in Amiens in 1910. Over the course of the novel he suffers a series of traumatic experiences, from the clandestine love affair that tears apart the family with whom he lives, to the unprecedented experiences of the war itself.

About this title

Review:

Readers who are entranced by the sweeping Anglo sagas of Masterpiece Theatre will devour Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks's historical drama. A bestseller in England, there's even a little high-toned erotica thrown into the mix to convince the doubtful. The book's hero, a 20-year-old Englishman named Stephen Wraysford, finds his true love on a trip to Amiens in 1910. Unfortunately, she's already married, the wife of a wealthy textile baron. Wrayford convinces her to leave a life of passionless comfort to be at his side, but things do not turn out according to plan. Wraysford is haunted by this doomed affair and carries it with him into the trenches of World War I. Birdsong derives most of its power from its descriptions of mud and blood, and Wraysford's attempt to retain a scrap of humanity while surrounded by it. There is a simultaneous description of his present-day granddaughter's quest to read his diaries, which is designed to give some sense of perspective; this device is only somewhat successful. Nevertheless, Birdsong is an unflinching war story that is bookended by romances and a rewarding read.

From the Publisher:

Birdsong was voted one of the best books of the century in a poll conducted by Waterstone's booksellers and Channel Four TV in the United Kingdom. Here's a selection of the praise that has been pouring in:

"Birdsong moved me more profoundly than anything I've read in years ... A deeply compassionate, utterly thrilling work by a master of the form."
-- Frank Conroy

"The accounts of combat are among the finest I have ever read ... so powerful as to be almost unbearable ... a tribute to the author's remarkable skill and tact and dazzling virtuosity."
-- Los Angeles Times

"An amazing book ... among the most stirringly erotic I have read."
-- The Daily Mail (London)

"Magnificent -- gorgeously written, deeply moving, rich in detail."
-- The Times (London)

"Superb storytelling and craftsmanship ... a tribute to the durability of the human soul."
-- People

"Vividly imagined ... this strenuous and poignant effort to shore up memory deserves our gratitude."
-- Newsday

"Superb ... a genuinely cathartic description of the war's last days."
-- New York Times Book Review

About this edition

• Publisher: Vintage
• Publication date: 1994
• ISBN 10: 0099387913
• ISBN 13: 9780099387916
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 528