Page 88 - All About History - Issue 38-16

Reviews

THE FRENCH SQUADRONS:

A TRUE STORY OF LOVE AND WAR

A heart-warming story from an era of turmoil
Authors Barbara Harper-Nelson and Genevieve Monneris
Publisher Amberley Price £9.99 Released Out now

ot every story from World War II has to The sentiment felt by the young couple bursts
involve soaring Spitfires or rumbling Tiger out from the pages throughout and you’d have a
tanks; in fact, some of the most powerful heart of stone not to immerse yourself into this
tales told from the war are much simpler saga of unconditional love. As Harper-Nelson
Nthan that. The French Squadrons: A True waits eagerly for her French companion to
Story Of Love And War takes this softer approach, return to Liverpool, Usai is fighting in the skies
and this account from Barbara Harper-Nelson is of Europe, suffering injuries and scoring downs
one of pure emotion and longing during a period against the Luftwaffe. As well as the relationship
of great turmoil. between the two, there’s also a lot of history in
A 19-year-old from northwest England, Harper- the pages and the reader really gets a sense of the
Nelson’s life was changed forever after a chance contrast between the relative peace of wartime
meeting with a 22-year-old French airman by the Britain and the ferocity of life in wartime France.
name of Francis Usai. Sadly, Usai was called away However, the main thrust of the book is still
to the continent to fight for the Allies, but the two the love story and if lines such as “He repeated
decided to keep in touch by means of a series of a number of times that he loves me, even if he
poignant letters. The book is a combination of thinks it is hopeless” don’t get you emotional,
the original correspondence and Harper-Nelson’s then this isn’t the book for you. It may run out of
diaries from the years between 1944 and 1946, steam slightly towards the end, but this is history
and the result is a touching and fascinating story not Hollywood and it remains an engaging tale of
of lovers separated by war. love and companionship.

THE SOMME

The epic battle in the soldiers’ own words and photographs
Author Richard van Emden Publisher Pen and Sword Price £25 Released Out now
RECOMMENDS… he Somme is a subject that much the same way as the men
has been covered in film, themselves would have seen them,
The Rising: television and literature time with just as much impact.
What is most striking about
and time again, so you’d be
Ireland: 1916 Tforgiven for wondering what these letters is their ability to make
Author: Fearghal McGarry Price: £20 new can be brought to the table. the reader smile, laugh even, as
Publisher: Oxford University Press But in the latest non-fiction book much as cry. We learn a new side
The Easter on World War I’s most infamous to the war that the history books
Rising of 1916 battle, released to commemorate missed out: the piano playing,
is the seminal
moment its 100th anniversary, Richard the sock mending, the cat who
of modern Van Emden offers up stories that was afraid of rats. Through the
Irish history. have never been told before. In chaos and the devastation, the
Although the
rebellion itself this personal account of the oft- beauty of the Somme region is a
was a military dehumanised battle, the soldiers’ reccurring theme in the soldiers’
failure, it led own letters and diary excerpts accounts, while one even describes
to a heavy- are used to tell the tragic tale, the ‘joy of war’. Of course, the
handed British
response, which in turn helped to spark accompanied by never-before- experiences all differ greatly, and
the chain of events that would lead to published photographs taken we are constantly reminded of
the creation of an Irish Free State in on their own illegally possessed the absurdity and needlessness
1922 and the partition of the states that
exist to this day.€This is an excellent cameras. As van Emben rightly of it all. Van Emden’s book does
introduction for anyone who seeks notes in his introduction, official these men a huge service, many
to understand the beginning of the photography of the war is used so of whom deserve a place among
modern Irish Republic and its enduring often that their impact is greatly the First World War literature
legacy in the complicated political
history between Ireland and Britain. diminished, and these images greats, and who now will never be
allow you to see the trenches in forgotten.

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