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Ebook405 pages
Shoulder the Sky: A Novel
By Anne Perry
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
3.5/5
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About this ebook
In the firmament of great historical novelists, Anne Perry is a star of the greatest magnitude. First there were her acclaimed Victorian mysteries, sparkling with passion and suspense. Now readers have embraced this bestselling new series of World War I novels–which juxtapose the tranquil life of the English countryside with the horrors of war.
By April of 1915, as chaplain Joseph Reavley tends to the soldiers in his care, the nightmare of trench warfare is impartially cutting down England’s youth. On one of his rescue forays into no-man’s-land, Joseph finds the body of an arrogant war correspondent, Eldon Prentice. A nephew of the respected General Owen Cullingford, Prentice was despised for his prying attempts to elicit facts that would turn public opinion against the war. Most troublesome to Joseph, Prentice has been killed not by German fire but, apparently, by one of his own compatriots. What Englishman hated Prentice enough to kill him? Joseph is afraid he may know, and his sister, Judith, who is General Cullingford’s driver and translator, harbors her own fearful suspicions.
Meanwhile, Joseph and Judith’s brother, Matthew, an intelligence officer in London, continues his quiet search for the sinister figure they call the Peacemaker, who, like Eldon Prentice, is trying to undermine the public support for the struggle–and, as the Reavley family has good reason to believe, is in fact at the heart of a fantastic plot to reshape the entire world. An intimate of kings, the Peacemaker kills with impunity, and his dark shadow stretches from the peaceful country lanes of Cambridgeshire to the twin hells of Ypres and Gallipoli.
In this mesmerizing series, Anne Perry has found a subject worthy of her gifts. Illuminating the murderous conflict whose violence still resounds in our consciousness–as well as the souls of men and women who lived it–Shoulder the Sky is a taut, inspiring masterpiece.
By April of 1915, as chaplain Joseph Reavley tends to the soldiers in his care, the nightmare of trench warfare is impartially cutting down England’s youth. On one of his rescue forays into no-man’s-land, Joseph finds the body of an arrogant war correspondent, Eldon Prentice. A nephew of the respected General Owen Cullingford, Prentice was despised for his prying attempts to elicit facts that would turn public opinion against the war. Most troublesome to Joseph, Prentice has been killed not by German fire but, apparently, by one of his own compatriots. What Englishman hated Prentice enough to kill him? Joseph is afraid he may know, and his sister, Judith, who is General Cullingford’s driver and translator, harbors her own fearful suspicions.
Meanwhile, Joseph and Judith’s brother, Matthew, an intelligence officer in London, continues his quiet search for the sinister figure they call the Peacemaker, who, like Eldon Prentice, is trying to undermine the public support for the struggle–and, as the Reavley family has good reason to believe, is in fact at the heart of a fantastic plot to reshape the entire world. An intimate of kings, the Peacemaker kills with impunity, and his dark shadow stretches from the peaceful country lanes of Cambridgeshire to the twin hells of Ypres and Gallipoli.
In this mesmerizing series, Anne Perry has found a subject worthy of her gifts. Illuminating the murderous conflict whose violence still resounds in our consciousness–as well as the souls of men and women who lived it–Shoulder the Sky is a taut, inspiring masterpiece.
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Author
Anne Perry
With twenty million books in print, ANNE PERRY's was selected by The Times as one of the twentieth century's '100 Masters of Crime', for more information about Anne and her books, visit: www.anneperry.co.uk
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Reviews for Shoulder the Sky
Rating: 3.671875138541667 out of 5 stars
3.5/5
96 ratings6 reviews
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I always enjoy books by Anne Parry. Up until now most of them have been Victorian mysteries but Shoulder the Sky is the middle book in a new WWI trilogy.
Technically it is a mystery, but it doesn't follow such a predictable formula and seems more part historical novel, part character study, and part mystery. I liked the first book a lot, No Graves as Yet. Shoulder the Sky is also good but the topic was more somber since a lot of this book takes place in the trenches (literally) in Flanders. Some of you would find it interesting that Parry is an international best selling author who is also LDS. Occasionally she writes a piece for Meridian Magazine. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A novel but one that gives an excellent invite into the lives of soldiers on the front lines during World War I in France. There is mystery as well and subplot involving the lives of a family intimately associated with the war.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5My review comments from reading the 1st novel in Anne Perry's World War I series have even greater meaning after reading the 2nd novel in the series.My generation seems to be more aware of the history of WWII than WWI so this series became of particular interest to me. Having discovered Anne Perry's writing through her Christmas mysteries, I am very appreciative of the way she is able to craft her stories with descriptive language that truly pulls the reader into the feelings of each character. In this novel, I found her poignant writing in expressing grief to be very meaningful.The story reveals the next steps in the lives of the adult Reavley children (2 brothers and 1 sister) following the loss of their parents in an automobile accident. As a reader I couldn't ignore the stark contrast from the living conditions in war time to the trenches to me as I was ensconced with my favorite reading comforts. The author's writing is descriptive to the point that to comment that it is riveting is almost too mild a term.
I remember the special camaraderie that I witnessed when my father was together with his two (2) Army buddies when the three (3) families visited together each year. Somehow I always knew that it was an unparalleled bond of friendship, trust, and love. Meeting these characters has given me almost an insider's look and understanding of how their friendship developed during their time of service during WWII as my father never talked about the war unless he was with his friends and when women and children entered the room the topic immediately changed. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A continuation of No Graves as Yet, this novel focuses on Joseph, a chaplain on the front lines in Flanders. An obnoxious war correspondent is killed, and when Joseph realizes that it's murder by a fellow soldier, he is determined to find out who. In the meantime, he and his brother and sister are still trying to identify who was behind their parents' murder, the same person who is attempting to cause chaos in the British government in order to avoid more war.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The second book in Perry's WWI series. This book takes place during 1915. The Reavleys are still trying to find out who The Peacemaker is, while Joseph continues his chaplain work in Ypres and Judith volunteers as a driver. Matthew is getting closer, but still doesn't know who he can trust in the Secret Intelligence Service.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The second in a series of WWI novels by Anne Perry, Shoulder the Sky continues the story of Matthew and Joseph Reavley. We also get a better look at their sister Judith, who, volunteering as an ambulance driver near the Front, proves she is made of some pretty stern stuff.Several months have elapsed between the end of No Graves As Yet and the beginning of this second novel. The war is well under way, and Joseph must adjust to life as a chaplain in the trenches of the Front Line. Meanwhile, Matthew is still in London, trying to track down the person known as the Peacemaker, a man who wants England out of the war no matter the cost--even if it means abandoning Belgium to the Germans and eventually sharing world domination with the Kaiser.An insensitive and thoroughly unlikeable war correspondant makes an abrasive comment in a field hospital and quickly finds himself the target of the men's frustrations, anger, and fear... and then face-down in a puddle of water in a crater in No Man's Land.Joseph soon finds himself unravelling a series of events, wondering all the while if he is doing the right thing... and if so, can he see it through to the end?