This is a curious book for this day and age - almost a period
piece, and a curious book fora woman to have written in any day and
age - a very self-contained and self-restrained account of World
War I over there profiled with something of the lean nobility of
say Brooke or Sassoon. After a slight wound John Hilliard, an
infantry lieutenant, has a home leave only to find that he is now
totally uncommunicative in the world he left behind (an elegant
mother, a sister on whom he was too dependent who is now about to
marry). He goes back to the front and what is left - very little -
of his old company and a young man Barton, as yet untouched by any
actual war experience, whose open confidence he returns with a
first and absolute love. But as the weeks pass Barton too is
tarnished by the guilt, fear and failure which rub off on him under
these circumstances as each man's death diminishes him and he goes
inevitably to his own rendezvous while Hilliard in the bleak
prescience of what will happen, just survives - losing a leg. . . .
Miss Hill writes with a meticulous, quiet, almost letter-perfect
exactitude which corroborates rather than encroaches, most
understandable under the circumstances - there is that interval in
time as well as Hilliard's gloved reserve. (Kirkus Reviews)
Susan Hill's classic novel Strange Meeting tells of the power of
love amidst atrocities. 'He was afraid to go to sleep. For three
weeks, he had been afraid of going to sleep . . .' Young officer
John Hilliard returns to his battalion in France following a period
of sick leave in England. Despite having trouble adjusting to all
the new faces, the stiff and reserved Hilliard forms a friendship
with David Barton, an open and cheerful new recruit who has still
to be bloodied in battle. As the pair approach the front line, to
the proximity of death and destruction, their strange friendship
deepens. But each knows that soon they will be separated . . . 'A
remarkable feat of imaginative and descriptive writing' The Times
'The feeling of men under appalling stress at a particular moment
in history is communicated with almost uncanny power' Sunday Times
'Truly Astonishing' Daily Telegraph
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!
Welcome to Loot.co.za!
Sign in / Register |Wishlists & Gift Vouchers |Help | Advanced search
