[.ca] Son of War (ISBN 0340818166)

From Amazon.co.uk:
Melvyn Bragg's A Son of War begins where A Soldier's Return ended. The previous novel--a moving account of the struggles, social and psychological, faced by a Burma veteran returning to Cumbrian hometown life with his wife and six-year-old son--picked up the WH Smith 1999 Literary Award. But whereas A Soldier's Return was largely Sam's story, Bragg here gives equal weight to Ellen, with her wide-eyed adoration for a long-lost brother and her high hopes of life on the new edge-of-town estate, cruelly foiled by Sam's dreams of owning a pub. But central is the "son of war", the endearing Joe, torn between being "Sam's lad" and "Ellen's boy", the fledgling boxer or the budding pianist. Bragg evokes well the petty yet momentous discoveries of a young boy, equally fixated on Disney's Snow White and girls doing handstands. While this is very much the personal story of one family, with heavy hints of autobiography, it's also the picture of Britain emerging from the war, throwing off Glenn Miller and Bing Crosby--a new Britain of rationing, the Big Freeze and strikes, talk of nuclear war, socialism, Joe Louis versus Jersey Joe Walcott. Once again, Bragg has succeeded in conjuring an epoch of unprecedented change, and capturing both its joys and its miseries: a worthy successor to The Soldier's Return -- Alan Stewart

Masterful as ever:
I'm an avid reader from way back of Melvyn Bragg's fiction, and it has never disappointed. Too little of it, I think, has made it to this country, and sometimes when it has, it's been diluted down for what some seem to assume is the short attention span of U.S. readers. Maybe that assumption is changing? First The Soldier's Return undiluted; now A Son Of War. And this time Bragg has outdone himself. I'm jazzed! In England, Melvyn Bragg has often been compared to Thomas Hardy, but I defy anyone to find an American writer this side of John Steinbeck or William Inge who can better evoke the understated drama of a small town, whatever the nation. A Son of War is not a piece to be gobbled up at poolside like fast food, but rather to be savored, in a hammock under dappled sunlight or in a sofa by a wood stove. It's an emotional story well told, to be reflected on, and the author's use of the English language is, as always, to be relished. From where I sit, A Son Of War is Bragg's most intimate and moving work to date. I recommend it to anyone who loves reading. I recommended it to ... anyone!

Brilliant Sequel:
This deceptively quiet and simple book, a sequel to "The Soldier's Return," is one of the finest novels about postwar England that I have ever read--and I have read many on that subject, almost more than I care to divulge. "A Son of War" continues the story of the Richardsons, a working-class family in the north of England whose father, Sam, fought in the vicious Burma Campaign and came home scarred and emotionally battered to his young wife and son, Ellen, and Joe. In the last book, we saw Sam slowly and painfully come to terms with the limitations in his life until he could somehow squelch his dreams of finding something better (eg, relocating to Australia, a recurrent dream). The book was basically Sam's story, poignant and memorable. In this followup, young Joe is the protagonist, as we see his parents' lives--and his own--from his point of view. When the book opens, Sam is still restless, but Ellen is content and happy for the first time when they move into a brand new Council house (tract houses that were offered at very cheap rates to returning servicemen and others). And young Joe begins to bloom. Unfortunately, this is short-lived. Sam makes a move that profoundly changes the lives of Ellen and Joe, in ways he could never predict. Joe's intensely personal encounters with his inner demons make up the exqusitely poignant story as we follow him from young childhood to his early teens. I can only hope that Melvyn Bragg plans to continue this brilliant series. The first two books have taken a place in this reviewer's mind as some of the finest contemporary novels written in the last few decades. I hope for more to come.