Lest We Forget: Wartime fiction
Reading novels set during wartime is one way of learning history and reminding ourselves of the horror and sacrifices of war. On this Remembrance Day, check out one of these wartime novels written by Canadians:
Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway. While the cellist plays for twenty-two days in the mortar hole where his neighbours died, three people, including the sniper working to protect him, try to survive and maintain a semblance of humanity in war-torn Sarajevo
This suspenseful and haunting novel won'the Ontario Library Association's Evergreen Award in 2009.The Cellist of Sarajevo is also available in audiobook format.
The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje. Set in an Italian villa just after World War II, the horribly burned 'English patient' gradually reveals his tragic story to the thief, Caravaggio.
The English Patient won many awards in 1992, including the Governor General's Literary Award for Fiction and the Man Booker Prize. It is available in Large Print, eBook and eAudiobook formats. In 1996, it was made into an Oscar winning film.
Far to Go by Alison Pick. When Czechoslovakia relinquishes the Sudetenland to Hitler, the Bauer family are helpless to prevent their world from falling apart as Nazi propaganda turns their friends and neighbours against them.
Nominated for the 2011 Ontario Library Association Evergreen Award and longlisted for Man Booker Prize, it won'the 2011 Helen and Stan Vine Canadian Jewish Book Awards for Fiction.
No Man's Land, by Kevin Major, follows the lives of the young men of the 1st Newfoundland Regiment as they proudly fight in the Battle of the Somme. On July 1, 1916, the first day of the battle, over 700 members of the Regiment were killed and a generation of Newfoundland men were wiped out. The Battle of Beaumont Hamel is considered the greatest tragedy in Newfoundland and Labrador's history.
Three Day Road by Joseph Boyden. In 1919, Niska, a Cree medicine woman, receives word that one of the two boys she saw off to war has returned. As Niska paddles the gravely wounded Xavier Bird the three days home, she tries to keep him alive through the stories of her life. In turn, Xavier relates the horrifying years of war for himself and his missing best friend,Elijah Whiskeyjack.
Three Day Road won'the Rogers' Writers Trust Fiction Prize and the OLA's Evergreen Award in 2006. It is also available in audiobook, and eBook .
The Timothy Findlay classic, The Wars , is the story of Robert Ross, a Canadian officer whose encounter with the violence and horror of trench warfare during the First World War takes him to the brink of madness. This short gem is definitely worth checking out.
The Wars won'the Governor General's Award for Fiction in 1977.
Can you recommend any others? Please share in the comments section.
7 thoughts on “Lest We Forget: Wartime fiction”
I’d add Hugh MacLennan’s “Barometer Rising” to the list.
Great suggestion! Thanks Randall.
Here is a link to the catalogue record: http://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/detail.jsp?Entt=RDM319489&R=319489
It’s also available in Large Print: http://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/detail.jsp?Entt=RDM303479&R=303479
I would have to add some graphic novel options!
“Two Generals” is a fantastic ground-level account of WWII based on the letters and diaries of creator Scott Chantler’s grandfather.
“Lone Hawk” is just out and is an exciting account of WWI Ace Billy Bishop. It’s by Torontonian John Lang.
These are two outstanding reads, I highly recommend them for middle school-age kids all the way up to adults.
Graphic novels are great! Thanks for the suggestions Chris. Here are the links for anyone interested:
“Two Generals”: http://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/detail.jsp?Entt=RDM2731695&R=2731695
Unfortunately, we don’t have “Lone Hawk” just yet (it was just published November 1st), but I’m sure we’ll get it in as soon as possible.
I’ll add A Month in the Country by James Lloyd Carr: http://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/detail.jsp?Entt=RDM747326&R=747326
which was also adapted for film:
http://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/detail.jsp?Entt=RDM1343225&R=1343225
Great list Kelli
Pat Barker’s Regeneration Trilogy (Regeneration, The Eye in the Door, The Ghost Road) deserves the highest praise and will be read 100 years from now, I am sure. I l also loved A Month in the Country, as Dawn mentioned – quiet and sad.
But, one that creeps into my thoughts still, even though it’s been more than a decade since I’ve read it is Flanders by Patricia Anthony. Anthony is known as a science fiction writer, but I wouldn’t classify this in that genre. In the end, you’re left uncertain if the main character, Travis Lee Stanhope, is a visionary or a madman. I found it haunting and completely unforgettable. It also features a Canadian, soldier, LeBlanc, who is mad, bad and dangerous, and yet Anthony manages, through, a single tiny gesture, to give him an ounce of humanity. It was refreshing to see a Canadian portrayed as something other than nice or insipidly polite. A great novel.
Thanks for the fantastic suggestions Dawn and Alyson.
Here is the link for Regeneration: http://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/detail.jsp?Entt=RDM259765&R=259765
Eye in the Door: http://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/detail.jsp?Entt=RDM471259&R=471259
The Ghost Road: http://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/detail.jsp?Entt=RDM200113&R=200113
They are also available in other formats.
Flanders: http://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/detail.jsp?Entt=RDM335516&R=335516