This semi-fictional account of World War I from the viewpoint of a
young Canadian officer was first published in 1977 and has since
become author Timothy Findley's most celebrated achievement. The
novel begins with one terrifying, iconic image - a man on
horseback, his clothes and hair on fire. From then on it's written
almost like a psychological thriller, hinting at the fate of the
court-martialled Robert Ross without revealing his 'crime' until
the end of the novel. His story unfolds through a series of
flashbacks, interview transcripts and journal entries. It traces
his life from a dysfunctional upbringing in Toronto through the
living hell of the trenches, abuse by his fellow soldiers, a
friendship with a child and a grim love affair with an icy
aristocrat, to arrive at last at the act of compassion which leads
to his destruction. Findlay used family papers and photographs as
the basis of the novel, which has at its centre both the ruin of a
generation and the sacrifice of one man's innocence. Elemental
imagery suffuses the telling: the fires of destruction, the
drowning mud, the poisoned winds and sulphurous rains. One of the
great novels of war from a sensitive and elegant writer. (Kirkus
UK)
Robert Ross, a sensitive nineteen-year-old Canadian officer, went
to war - the War to End All Wars. He found himself in the nightmare
world of trench warfare; of mud and smoke, of chlorine gas and
rotting corpses. In this world gone mad, Robert Ross performed a
last desperate act to declare his commitment to life in the midst
of death.The Wars is quite simply one of the best novels ever
written about the First World War.
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