Customer Reviews

Alamein: The Turning Point of World War Two

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I think the previous reviewer is a little unfair. Yes its not great literature but then I don't think that is the author's intention. As a fictionalised account of a battle which raged for days over a huge area and involved a wide range of nationalities, this novel gives an appreciation of what it might have been like for particpants. At times the scale of the canvas and his cast of characters defeats the author but on other occasions the writing and description rings very true. Definitely better than Biggles!

This is cliched writing at its groan-inducing worst. It's "damn the torpedoes", "keep a stiff upper lip" and "war is hell" stuff with large dollops of schmaltz. Here's a sample:

"He pictured the [dead] boy's mother in their pretty baroque villa overlooking Florence in the little hillside village of Fiesole. Donna Bartoldi would receive the telegram within the week, before his letter could reach her. He saw her drop to her knees in the great portico, beneath the trailing vines in the October sunshine which dappled the Tuscan hills."