First World War Fiction
A selection of titles available
RNIB Talking Books
Barker, Pat
Regeneration. 1997. Read by Michael Tudor Barnes, 10 hours
15 minutes. TB 11448.
The Regeneration triology; book 1. This novel is not only a vivid
evocation of the agony of the First World War, it is a multi-layered
exploration of all wars, challenging assumptions about the
relationship between doctors and patients, between men and
women, and between men and men. It centres on a real-life
encounter that occurred at Craiglockhart in 1917 between W H R
Rivers, an army psychiatrist and Siegfried Sassoon. The third book
in this trilogy was the 1995 Booker Prize winner. TB 11448.
Barry, Sebastian
A long long way. 2005. Read by John Cormack, 9 hours 20
minutes. TB 14367.
A Long Long Way evokes the camaraderie and humour of Willie
and his regiment, the Royal Dublin Fusiliers, but also the cruelty
and sadness of war, and the divided loyalties that many Irish
soldiers felt. Tracing their experiences through the course of the
war, the narrative brilliantly explores and dramatises the events of
the Easter Rising within Ireland, and how such a seminal political
moment came to affect those boys off fighting for the King of
England on foreign fields - the paralysing doubts and divisions it
caused them. Contains strong language. TB 14367.
Faulks, Sebastian
Birdsong. 1996. Read by Peter Firth, 15 hours 41 minutes. TB
10988.
Amiens, 1910, and young Stephen Wraysford has been sent by his
employer to study the textile trade. His host, Azaire, is a
prosperous manufacturer. Stephen and Isabelle, Azaire's second
wife, are immediately aware of a bond between them which
oversteps any considerations of propriety. The Somme, 1916, and
Stephen is now a lieutenant in the British Army, lonely and
brooding and France has become a bloody battlefield. In 1978 a
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woman finds a diary and begins to relive the horrors of trench
warfare with the writer. Unsuitable for family reading. TB 10988.
Harrison, Sarah
The flowers of the field. 1980. Read by Carol Marsh, 32 hours
8 minutes. TB 4885.
A family saga of the Great War and its effects on the lives of three
women: intellectual Thea, beautiful Dulcie and the proud and
ambitious maid Primmy. TB 4885.
Hasek, Jaroslav
The good soldier Svejk and his fortunes in the World War.
1973. Read by Andrew Timothy, 27 hours 23 minutes. TB 5161.
A new and unexpurgated translation of a classic Czech comic
novel: Svejk is Everyman caught up in the bureaucratic cogwheels
of the First World War. His own brand of resistance against tyranny
makes him a national hero: he acts the fool and makes authority
look foolish. The author points up the absurdities brought about by
the collapse of the Hapsburg Empire and rejoices in the capacity of
the individual to survive, live off his wits and mock pomposity.
Contains strong language. TB 5161.
Morpurgo, Michael
Private peaceful. 2004. Read by Peter Kenny, 4 hours 36
minutes. TB 14821.
As young Thomas Peaceful looks back over his childhood from the
battlefields of the First World War, his memories are full of family
life deep in the countryside. But the clock is ticking, and every
moment Tommo spends remembering how things used to be,
means another moment closer to something which will change his
life forever. TB 14821.
Perry, Anne
Shoulder the sky. 2005. Read by Cornelius Garrett, 10 hours
49 minutes. TB 17208.
World War I series; book 2. Sequel to: No graves as yet, TB
16498. In April 1915 Joseph Reavley is serving as chaplain on the
Front Line at Ypres. The war that should have been 'over by
Christmas' has already decimated the British Expeditionary Force.
To Joseph's sector comes an ambitious young war correspondent
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determined to expose the horrors of trench life. But before he can
dispatch his piece, he is found dead in no-man's-land. Still seeking
the man behind his parents' murder, and to protect his sister Judith
from the pain of an impossible romance, Joseph must find the
truth. TB 17208.
Remarque, Erich Maria
All quiet on the western front. 1980. Read by Robert Gladwell,
7 hours 41 minutes. TB 5771.
In 1914, at the age of 18, the author went straight from school into
the army and was sent to the Western Front. During the course of
the war, his mother died and all his friends were killed. At the end
of the war, he found himself alone in the world. This book tells of
the sacrifice of a generation. TB 5771.
West, Rebecca
The return of the soldier. 1980. Read by Pauline Munro, 3
hours 10 minutes. TB 5243.
A shell-shocked soldier returns from the First World War. There
are three women who love him and who are waiting for him. But he
can only remember two of them as they were years ago, and he
cannot remember his wife at all. The three women have a choice to leave him or to "cure" him. TB 5243.
Young, Louisa
My dear I wanted to tell you. 2011. Read by Dan Stevens, 10
hours 50 minutes. TB 19802.
London, April 1916, Riley Purefoy was walking across Kensington
Gardens in the sun, coming up from Victoria station, going home.
He hadn't been in London for two years. It seemed very peculiar to
him. There were no shells going off. No one was shooting. No gas
gong. It was quiet and there were women. TB 19802.
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