Birdsong Book + PRICE WATCH * Amazon pricing is not included in price watch

Birdsong Book

Readers who are entranced by sweeping historical sagas will devour Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks' drama set during the first world war. There's even a little high-toned erotica thrown into the mix to convince the doubtful. The book's hero, a 20-year-old Englishman named Stephen Wraysford, finds his true love on a trip to Amiens in 1910. Unfortunately, she's already married, the wife of a wealthy textile baron. Wrayford convinces her to leave a life of passionless comfort to be at his side, but things do not turn out according to plan. Wraysford is haunted by this doomed affair and carries it with him into the trenches of the war. Birdsong derives most of its power from its descriptions of mud and blood, and Wraysford's attempt to retain a scrap of humanity while surrounded by it. There is a simultaneous description of his present-day granddaughter's quest to read his diaries, which is designed to give some sense of perspective; this device is only somewhat successful. Nevertheless, Birdsong is a rewarding read, an unflinching war story and a touching romance.Read More

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  • Anonymous17 January 2011

    An easy to read novel. Great story. Birdsong is a book you will read in a couple of sittings and pick it up next year on holiday and read it over again.

  • Kathie Pick09 August 2010

    This is on the reading list for AS level English Literature in 2010, and I have read this over the holidays in order to be prepared for the new term.
    Set in pre-war France - Stephen, an independant minded young Englishman, falls in love with Isabel, a married French woman. Through circumstance, Stephen finds himself without his love on the battlefields and trenches of the Somme, where the conditions push him to the very limits of human endurance.
    Sebastian Faulks has created a masterpiece of literature, about an absolutely desolate period, allowing the audience to feel part of the absolute horror and occasionally poignancy of the First World War.

  • Amazon

    Set before and during the great war, this work captures the drama of that era on both a national and a personal scale. It is the story of Stephen, a young Englishman, who arrives in Amiens in 1910. His life goes through a series of traumatic experiences, from the clandestine love affair to the unprecedented experiences of the war itself.

  • TheBookPeople

    Now a successful BBC drama, Sebastian Faulks' Birdsong is a must read for anyone with an interest in history, especially due to the way it describes the anguish of love and war in vivid detail. Telling the story of young Englishman Stephen Wraysford, the stunning novel follows the strange and bitter man on his journey to Picardy, France, to learn about the textile business. While there, he plunges into a love affair with the wife of his host that changes him forever. His journey continues onto the Western Front as a soldier during World War I, although Stephen still manages to find hope and meaning even in this situation. Sixty years later, his granddaughter discovers, and keeps, Stephen's promise to a dying man.

  • 0099387913
  • 9780099387916
  • Sebastian Faulks
  • 18 July 1994
  • Vintage
  • Paperback (Book)
  • 528
  • New edition
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