Some Day I'll Find You by Richard Madeley.

          Some Day I'll Find You by Richard Madeley.

And then, in a shattering instant, it came: the ferocious eruption of total war. The country woke, stunned to find that the long stalemate had evaporated in a single night, in the smoke and fury of an enemy assault so savage, so overwhelming, that all foolish hopes that catastrophe might yet be averted vanished as though they had never been.

Madeley chose a pre-war setting of the Weald in Kent with events leading up to the second world war with some insight into the pity of war immortalised by Owen. The Arnolds are deeply affected by the war as one would expect. In the second part, the story moves into post-war mode and the setting is the south of France. The excitement and tension of the war reaches an anti-climax and we are left with a touch of the thriller genre, plunging into the sordid world of the Mafia.

The Arnolds were a wealthy and privileged family and contrast sharply with the poverty-stricken James Blackwell who hastily marries into the family hoping to benefit financially from marrying Diana. He is the bete noire of the novel and comes to be known as le Loup, a dangerous man, despised by everyone.

Oliver Arnold was a successful libel lawyer who had fought in the trenches during the first world war as a major. Four years of fighting and killing was enough to breed  cynicism and anger at the imminent approach of war; he would have readily choked the life out of Hitler with his bare hands given the chance. He seems to be the voice of guilt looming over the proceedings of yet another world war:

We couldn't face our fears. We were so horrified by memories of the last time that we'd do or say anything to convince ourselves it couldn't happen again. Even when reality was staring us in the face.

He fears for his children's generation. Now it's our children who've got to clear the mess up. Let's hope they can. Let's just pray it's not too late.

But it was too late. John, his son was only 20 and extremely excited about doing his bit for the war effort like many typical young men. The propaganda machine had easily persuaded the likes of John Arnold to join the RAF to get a crack at Hitler and show him where he gets off! No display of fear or awareness of danger for the younger generation. Not yet, anyway. Innocence and naivety. Short-lived and soon destroyed.

Gwen Arnold is an artist and daughter Diana, the main character, was reading politics at Girton, Cambridge. She was from a privileged, elitist family and it didn't seem to matter in which direction her life was heading. She could remain an academic, have lots of affairs or give birth to lots of babies in or out of marriage. Flippant or perhaps a typical product of a middle-class society? Naïve and innocent like her brother, the thought of an imminent war flooded her with excitement not dread.

James Blackwell, flight commander, became Diana's knight in shining armour before transforming into her nemesis in an attempt to destroy her family and security. Her vanity was her undoing. She wanted John to bring home the best looking pilot in the squadron to spend Christmas with the family. This impossibly glamorous pin-up appeared and swept her off her feet. But, as we know, looks can be extremely deceptive unless you are blinded by Cupid's arrow like Diana. And she was soon smitten by his charm and his good looks.

James had lied repeatedly about his past. He was devious and manipulative. It is possible he had been abused by his headmaster who nicknamed him a barrow-boy. James blackmailed him and threatened exposure unless he wrote an impeccable reference guaranteeing him entry into the RAF. We see his cruelty when he "dumps" his girlfriend of 2 months, Jane Timming after taking advantage of her and boasting to himself that it took precisely 45 seconds to end this affair. The fact that she crumpled to the floor out of shock and horror meant nothing to him.

He took advantage of John's friendship to establish himself on the social ladder as a well-placed friend having been snubbed and branded common by the other men. He was also very much of an opportunist and a marriage to Diana would confer a generous settlement from the wealthy Oliver Arnold. Perhaps this would compensate him for his poverty-stricken corral?

The evacuation of Dunkirk seems to be a turning point for both John and James when confronting danger.

I smacked one of them down. I saw my bullets smash through his cockpit canopy. Blood was spraying all over the shop. It was horrible.

It also serves as a wake-up call to Diana's innocence. James' narrow squeak left him pretty shaken up when his cockpit exploded in fury all around him. A brush with death is sufficient for him to take advantage of the situation and marry in haste before being shot down by the Germans.

Life is full of surprises, initially nasty shocks for Diana as she faces the future without James. A move to Nice is meant to give her a new start in life but the past comes back to haunt her, destroying the last remains of innocence and naivety. How will she survive? Will she survive? You'll have to read it to find out, won't you? This is Madeley's second book, but his first novel. Readable with some dramatic moments and a case of all's well that ends well.

 

 

 

Publisher: Simon and Schuster U.K.   ISBN: 978-1-4711-1263-8.

Invasion

Soon they will come. First we will hear

the sound of their boots approaching at dawn

then they'll appear through the mist.

 

In their death-bringing uniforms

they will march towards our homes

their guns and tanks pointing forward.

 

They will be confronted by young men

with rusty guns and boiling blood.

These are our young men

who took their short-lived freedom for granted.

 

We will lose this war, and blood

will cover our roads, mix with our

drinking water, it will creep into our dreams.

 

Keep your head down and stay in doors-

we've lost this war before it has begun.

 

Chorman Hardi.

Copyright 2014. Permission must be obtained from the author before reproduction of any of this article review.