Category: Mainstream Publisher: Wexford College Press
ISBN-10: 1929148224
Type: Fiction
Pages: 263
Copyright: November 2003
The time: September 1941 to December 1944. The place: a high-class English boarding school for boys near London. Thirteen-year-old Harry Lockwood fights for survival at Markham College, where the misuse of power by sadistic prefects creates a closed society ruled by fear and violence. As if this is not enough, Hitler's bombardment of Britain with terrifying V1 flying bombs and V2 ballistic missiles threatens to destroy him. This is indeed a story of war, but it is also a story of loyal friendship among four boys, of young love, of tragedy and joy.
Excerpt
PROLOGUE
July 1944
Sixteen-year-old Harry Lockwood was almost halfway to the garden shed when he heard the doodlebug. He thought little of it at first because the flying bomb was a long way off. After all, only a few had reached London's more distant outskirts where his boarding school was located. Even the most persistent usually ran out of fuel and fell to earth long before they got anywhere near Markham College. These vicious weapons
had been raining down upon the City for several weeks now, but the explosions of their payloads were little more than far-off thuds.
Harry continued to thread his way through the patchwork of small allotments, which made up the boys'
so-called Victory Gardens. He cursed the toothache that had sent him to the dentist earlier in the afternoon, and he cursed the prefect who had relegated him to garden duty because he was too late for swimming. It just wasn't fair.
Suddenly, a tiny alarm rang at the back of Harry's mind when he realized from the sound of the engine, that this particular V1 appeared to be heading straight for Markham College. He looked up at the overcast sky. As yet, nothing was visible. If, Heaven forbid, it was to fly over the school grounds, the doodlebug would probably cross the playing fields and approach Gillespie Hall. That gray monstrosity was the heart of the Markham College complex. Harry glanced up at Hutchison's House, his equally gray residence. He would never get there before it arrived.
The thing kept coming on, and in less than half a minute the noise of its engine became terrifying. It resembled the slow, throaty staccato of a very large motor bike. Harry prayed that the V1's power plant would cut out before it got too close. Once the engine died, you measured the rest of your life in seconds, counting from the time the noise stopped. When you got to about eight, the bomb would hit the ground
and explode, hopefully a long way off—otherwise you were dead.
Still, it grew louder.
Harry covered his ears. "Bloody hell! It's coming right overhead!"
He dropped flat on his stomach as he had been taught. The sputtering explosions of the ramjet pounded into his brain, but he was unable to resist the temptation to roll on his side and look up. Sure enough, the menace was there, just below the clouds. The square-ended wings and pointed fuselage were clearly visible. A ton of high explosive was heading straight for him.
"Dive, damn you!" he yelled. "Now! Now!"
But on it came, doubtless bent on blowing him to hell.
He closed his eyes and rolled back onto his stomach, lifting his torso just off the ground with his elbows and knees. He prayed that this would protect him from the shock wave of the imminent explosion, and fervently hoped that those who had instructed him were right.
By this time the sound of the engine was so loud that it drowned all remnants of thought. Then without warning, his greatest dread. Silence.
Harry began to count. "One . . ."
But the V1 started again—it was going to fly away! Relief was only a speck in his subconscious when the engine stopped once more, this time for good. "One . . . two . . ."
Time slowed to an agonizing crawl. Minutes, not seconds, seemed to pass until at last he reached, "Seven . . . eight . . . nine . . ."
Professional Reviews
Books in Canada—The Canadian Review of Books, September 2004
Review by M. Wayne Cunningham, Children's Books,
Books in Canada—The Canadian Review of Books, September 2004
To the accumulated tradition of British boarding school literature initiated by Thomas Hughes's Tom Brown's Schooldays, and perfected by James Hilton's Goodbye, Mr. Chips, add Kingston Ontario author D. Edward Bradley's, first-class, autobiographical novel, Harry's War.
To the accumulated tradition of British boarding school literature initiated by Thomas Hughes's Tom Brown's Schooldays, and perfected by James Hilton's Goodbye, Mr. Chips, add Kingston Ontario author D. Edward Bradley's, first-class, autobiographical novel, Harry's War.
It's England of 1941 to 1945, and teenaged schoolboy, Harry Lockwood, with his father soldiering in North Africa and his mother toiling in a munitions factory, has two wars to survive. One is the overarching Battle of Britain, which forces him to dodge explosions from the dreaded German buzz bombs and ballistic missiles, V1 and V2 rockets. The second battle is for survival within his boarding school's hierarchical system, where bullying sadists rule, spot beatings are commonplace, and housemasters and headmasters turn a blind eye.
For North American readers, Bradley's compelling story poses various challenges. One is the English schoolboy slang, another is the compunction to christen friends and enemies with nicknames like "Pansy", "Beastly", "the Captain", "Wetherby Wet". Harry's own alias is "Woody". Yet another difficulty is the rigidity of an educational system that permits "fagging", whereby junior students ("fags") act as servants to seniors or suffer the direst consequences—physical, often truly vicious, beatings with swagger sticks for the merest of transgressions. Once past these hurdles, readers, young adult to seniors, will find an insightful depiction of a coming-of-age story in which a likeable young man loses his mother to a sudden heart attack, and copes with the stress of seldom hearing from a battlefront father. Otherwise, this young survivor saves a school chum cut down by an enemy fighter plane's bullets, falls into and out of infatuiation with the school nurse, finds love with a girl from a neighbouring school, and manfully faces up to all manner of lies, deceit and physical abuse from his prefect, an individual readers will easily grow to hate. Other boys suffer as well, including Harry's friend who is sexually abused by the prefect of his study.
Growing through the adversities of WWII and of Markham College, Harry develops from a 13-year-old "facing the prospect of his first term at a prestigious English public school with mixed feelings" in 1941 to a confident, mature young man of 17 in 1945, ready to tackle a still uncertain future. His girlfriend, Jenny, is as sure as he is they can succeed. Perhaps there's a sequel in the offing to determine whether or not they did. And if it's as good as this book it will be well worth reading.
Reproduced with kind permission of The Editor, Books in Canada—The Canadian Review of Books
Fearless Book Reviews July, 2004
Here’s a realistic and sometimes uplifting look at what life is like for a young teenage boy in England during the Forties. And though it has an ending that feels somewhat rushed and abrupt, it will keep readers turning the pages and hoping that there is a sequel in the works.
Harry Lockwood’s life at Markham College is typical of any other school boy’s life at the time. If he survives the regular air raids and bombings from the Germans, he has routine beatings from the school’s older students to look forward to — and not much else. Despite the chaos, Harry finds time for love and actually grows into a person capable of handling life’s challenges in the shadow of war. D. Edward Bradley based many of these incidents on things that happened to him, and it makes for a thrilling novel full of characters readers will really care about. The surprise ending only solidifies that, and it makes one eager to know what will happen next. Novels set in war can often be depressing and mechanical. This one, however, shows real emotions and offers hope during one of the darkest periods in the world’s history. D.BRUNELL
Midwest Book Reviews July 2006
In my youth, Mother subscribed to the "Book of the Month Club." My taste for exceptional writing and memorable stories began with those fine books of a different time. Wuthering Heights, Goodbye Mr. Chips, and Pride and Prejudice took me to worlds I'd never have the chance to visit on my own. Mr. Bradley has accomplished the same sense of adventure with this first in a Trilogy. I'm sorry to say this writer and his books deserve far more attention than received thus far. Excellence should be rewarded in a writer's lifetime.
At age 13, Harry Lockwood sets out for his education at a prestigious English boarding school for boys, Markham College. World War Two is in full swing. Harry and his chums – Captain, Beastly, and Pansy – must keep a stiff upper lip on two fronts. Outside the Markham boundaries are German spies, V1 and V2 bombs that threaten life and limb. Inside Markham the boys must suffer beatings and humiliations by sadistic prefects. Harry's father is stationed in North Africa and his mother works night shift at a munitions factory far from Markham so parental support and protection is out of the question. Young Harry must learn to face difficult situations on his own. With humor and determination born of courage, Harry and his friends survive four years at Markham despite grim conditions. When Harry falls in love, that joyous circumstance is also marred by difficulty. Whether danger, corporal punishment, love, or sorrow, Harry faces life head on with dignity and strength.
Mr. Bradley does a fine job of capturing an era in this book. I'll soon be reading and reviewing the next two books in this trilogy and look forward to the experience. Well-written books and memorable characters are rare these days but Harry's War is an exception to that statement.
