Any book that can pull that off is worth your time.
Not that it’s easy. While the story is smooth, the realness is tough to swallow. Alberta at the turn of the last century was a difficult place to live. The section of the book in which William is fighting overseas is necessarily challenging; no-man’s land was also as the title suggests. The final section, in which ex-soldiers must return from a fight to fight some more, is heartbreaking.
And ultimately nutritious. I knew nothing about the general strikes that ran across Canada a century ago. I can’t speak for others, but I think if the world – not just Canadians – remembered the events, collective bargaining in first world counties would not have fallen by half in the last 60 years. The trenches of the middle class were dug and held with bone and blood.
Hard truths and food for thought.
