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A review by muggsyspaniel
The Avenue Goes to War by R.F. Delderfield
4.0
A cracking read this, not quite up there with To Serve Them All My Days but not too far off.
The Avenue Story sits as a kind of cosy counterpart to Patrick Hamilton's bleaker worldview. Delderfield is clearly a left leaning, old fashioned optimist. The bad eggs rarely get comeuppance, instead they see the error of their ways and find redemption.
There is also evidence of Delderfield's obvious passion for the countryside with certain characters dreaming of a new life working the land. As such there is a crossover with another of Delderfield's epics of British life, A Horseman Riding By, a story that begins with a veteran of the Boer War starting a new life in the country. Also his preoccupation with new beginnings after wars like the protagonist of To Serve Them All My Days is to the fore. He also has a nice talent for really getting you to care about his characters and despite the cosy feel you can get a real shock every now and then.
An old fashioned writer then, probably not to modern tastes but when was that ever a drawback?
The Avenue Story sits as a kind of cosy counterpart to Patrick Hamilton's bleaker worldview. Delderfield is clearly a left leaning, old fashioned optimist. The bad eggs rarely get comeuppance, instead they see the error of their ways and find redemption.
There is also evidence of Delderfield's obvious passion for the countryside with certain characters dreaming of a new life working the land. As such there is a crossover with another of Delderfield's epics of British life, A Horseman Riding By, a story that begins with a veteran of the Boer War starting a new life in the country. Also his preoccupation with new beginnings after wars like the protagonist of To Serve Them All My Days is to the fore. He also has a nice talent for really getting you to care about his characters and despite the cosy feel you can get a real shock every now and then.
An old fashioned writer then, probably not to modern tastes but when was that ever a drawback?