A first novel plays out its small drama of the dissension within
the barracks of a Highland regiment with authentic assurance
(Kennaway was a Cameron Highlander), and the old warrior who
swaggers and swears his way through the pages here is a figure you
are unlikely to forget. Jock Sinclair, who had risen from the ranks
and achieved a fine record as a Battalion Commander during the war,
is not quite enough of a gentleman for the town and the county and
is now to be succeeded as Colonel by an Eton and Oxford man,
Barrow. Jock, who likes his men to drink and dance vigorously is
quick to resent Barrow's refinement of these activities- or any
changes in the Nattalion he considers his. Drinking more heavily,
he makes his unsteady rounds from the mess to home to his mistress'
lodgings and finally to a pub where he strikes a Corporal. As the
incident becomes known, Barrow is reluctantly forced to launch an
enquiry. Nervously, apologetically explaining this to Jock, trying
to convey his own feeling for Jock and for the Battalion in which
he too takes pride, Barrow fails- and commits suicide. And as Jock
gives his orders for the unexpectedly elaborate ceremonial funeral
to "all the tunes of glory"- still another tragedy is presaged. . .
. A market- perhaps more a man's market- may be hard to find, but
it tells a story of considerable strength and the old man will
easily command your attention and affection. (Kirkus Reviews)
Lt. Colonel Jock Sinclair is a rough talking, whisky drinking
soldier's soldier, a hero of the desert campaign who rose to his
position through the ranks. Colonel Barrow, an officer graduate of
Oxford and Sandhurst, had a wretched war in Japanese prison camps.
But he has come to take command of the Battalion he has long
admired, the one that Jock Sinclair has served in since he was a
boy. In the claustrophobic world of Campbell barracks, a conflict
is inevitable between the two men and a tragedy unfolds with
concentrated and ferocious power. James Kennaway served in a
Highland regiment himself, and his feeling for 'tunes of glory, for
the glamour and brutality of army life gives added authenticity and
humour to this, his first and most famous novel. He died in a car
crash at the tragically early age of forty.
General
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