I ran across this title sitting in a book holder on a table in the entranceway to Dave's Book Center, at the East Town Mall in Green Bay, WI. What attracted me was the portion of a German Iron Cross overlapped by a WWI aviator's helmet. I picked the book up and turned it over, noticing almost immediately that someone had whited out a name on the back and hand printed in its place the name Edith Cavell. Hmm... OK. After I finished reading the back cover, I opened the book and looked at the frontispiece, finding that the author, one Jane Toombs, had already autographed it. Hmmm.... again.Curious, I asked Dave about it and was told that Jane would be in on Saturday for a book signing. In a moment, he had replenished his supply of books on the table and had given me one of the un-signed copies, as I intended to be present Saturday to speak to the author herself.
Upon reading the description of the book on the publisher's website, I determined the name that had likely been obliterated was that of Clara Barton, the nurse who had pretty much run the Red Cross from it's inception until she resigned in 1908. Clara died in 1912. Archduke Ferdinand was assassinated in 1914, and his assassination is widely regarded as the event that touched off WWI.
Hmmm... yet again. The text inside the book has the correct name... that of Nurse Edith Cavell, who was executed by the Germans during WWI. I suppose that this is one of those stories within a story... but it likely has a simple explanation. Yeah, right... errors get made all the time... mostly by "editors". In any case, Edith plays a relatively minor role in the story.
This book could fit into any of several genres... romance, or historical fiction, for example, but I will call it a spy novel. This way, I won't be accused of reading a romance novel... no matter how well thought out and constructed.
Spy novel or no, it does contain some of those obligatory sexual interludes that characterize romance novels in general. I find it interesting that a woman would write such narratives from the male's perspective... I mean, she couldn't ordinarily understand what it is like for men, could she? In any case, the protagonist, Luke Ray, seems to get more offers than I did during my own war experience... but then a young American aviator during WWI probably would have.
The author seems to have a pretty good handle on British idioms as well as German and French phrases... and possibly some Flemish for good measure. The language of the time in general is well used and thought-out. She has the weapons and aircraft correct, the references to the Germans' use of chlorine gas... and the effects of such.
The strength of the narrative is the constant wheels-within-wheels maze of loyalty, betrayal, deception, misdirection, and outright lies that characterize such international affairs even today... perhaps even more so today.
One of the little political asides is the belief of her character Kezia Faith, that women's suffrage would lead to the end of war. Well, so far it hasn't happened, but one wonders if that was a contemporary belief at the time.
The book is available in a trade paperback format as well as an ebook. It is, I think, a good read, despite the substitution of names on the back cover. Go ahead and buy it... it is entertaining and somewhat educational... something all of us can use in these times when The Great War is remembered by so few of us.
Dale A. Raby
Editor/Publisher
The Green Bay Web
