Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #158 in Books
• Published on: 1994-07-18
• Binding: Paperback
• 528 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Readers who are entranced by sweeping historical sagas will devour Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks' drama set during the first world war. 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 the war. 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 a rewarding read, an unflinching war story and a touching romance.

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. His life goes through 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.

From the Publisher
Powerful and moving bestselling fiction from one of today's greatest living writers.

Customer Reviews

Wonderfully evocative
Sebastian Faulks' best book by far, moves from the pre-war period through the first world war to connect with contemporary times, through a woman searching for her family history. The description of trench scenes and warfare evokes my frustration with the pointlessness of the slaughter, in stark comparison with the humour in the descriptions of pre-war France. This is a wonderfully vivid book, one of the few that made me want to laugh out loud or cry as I turned the pages.

History understood
Having recently returned from a tour of the Somme researching an ancestor, I re-read Birdsong and was absorbed by Sebastian Faulks' insight into the anguish of war. His portrayal of soldiers in the trenches, the reactions of their relatives back at home, the curiosity of Elizabeth searching for information about her grandfather exactly matched my experiences. Faulks' research gave us insights which although discomforting, were accurate - uniforms, horrendous conditions and attitudes.

I would say to anyone go to the battlefields, come home and read this. You will have learnt more and gained an understanding from a master writer.

Amazing
One of the reviews adorning the cover of this book says- "a book with the power to reveal the unimagined, so that one's life is set in a changed context". This is what this book has done for me- my outlook has changed as a result of this book, and my understanding of what people gave in the Great War has been enhanced in a way no other novel or historical tome could have achieved. This is fiction but it feels so real you can almost feel the mud in the French trenches- a really amazing read.