The Soldier's Return Book

"In the spring of 1946, ex-corporal Sam Richardson returns home from the "forgotten war" in Burma to his hometown of Wigton in Cumbria, England, to the joyful relief of his young wife, Ellen. He finds a town in which, seemingly, little has changed: the same twisting alleys, weavers' cottages, and medieval archways; and the same lack of prospects for an uneducated, working-class man like himself." Sam, however, has changed. The war has not only left him with traumatic memories, which he tries to suppress, but also given him greater self-confidence and broadened his horizons. From her wartime jobs, Ellen, too, has gained a sense of independence she does not want to give up. And then there's six year old Joe, a baby when Sam volunteered, who can scarcely remember his father. As all three strive to adjust, the bonds of love and loyalty become stretched to the breaking point.

Publishers Weekly

Right from the start, when the train carrying British soldier Sam Richardson home to Wigton after his service in the Burma campaign breaks down two miles from town and he and his army comrades have to walk home, it is clear we are in the hands of a compassionate, clear-sighted writer. Braggs work has been compared to that of Hardy and D.H. Lawrence, not without some justice. His smalltown people are closely and warmly observed, but without a shred of sentimentality, and although this story is familiar"a man home from a dehumanizing war finds it hard to readjust"it has seldom been imbued with such rueful humanity. For Sam, England after WWII"and after the sufferings he and his men endured in the frightful jungle campaigns"is stuffy and limiting; soon he starts dreaming of wider horizons. His adored wife, Ellen, however, is happily rooted in the little northern town where she grew up; their small son, Joe, who has hardly known his father, is bewitched but also terrified of him. How the family works out its fate in the shabby postwar years is Braggs story, and he makes of it something at once endearing and heroic. So many scenes"the regimental reunion, Joes efforts to win friends among the tough town kids, a final scene at a railway station as heartrending as the movie Brief Encounter"linger in the mind. The book is a small classic, deeply touching and true. (Aug.) Forecast: Bragg is well known as a broadcaster and successful novelist in Britain, where this was published three years ago. Americans deserve to know Braggs work better, and booksellers can safely recommend this to admirers of classic English literature. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.