In Pale Battalions [Kindle Edition]

Robert Goddard (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Set in England during and after WW I, this is the story of three generations: the two Leonoras, mother and child (and their husbands, both handsome, adoring, young army officers), and of Penelope, who at length unravels the twisted skeins of her mother's and grandmother's past to discover herself. In the prologue, the younger Leonora, now a grandmother, takes her daughter Penelope to France to visit the memorial to those killed on the Somme in 1916. Her father, Captain John Hallows is listed there, but, Leonora points out, he died more than a year before her birth. By way of explanation, Leonora relates the story of her childhood as an orphan in the mansion of Meonsgate sp ok in Hampshire, under the tyranny of her greedy, power-hungry step-grandmother. Young Leonora eventually escapes to a happy marriage and finally discovers the truth about her parentsespecially about her mother, who had been described to her as a whorethrough the device of a stranger's tale: not an ancient mariner's, but an old soldier's. But there is more, and Penelope is the one who hears the true storyor is it? Goddard ( Past Caring ) has crafted a marvelously intricate plot, deftly and subtly unveiling, through different narrative voices, the mystery at the core of this intense, shocking tale. 50,000 first printing; $50,000 ad/promo; Literary Guild alternate.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

In the best tradition of British storytelling, here murder, deceit, family honor, and intrigue are intricately woven into a compelling drama of decadent British aristocracy set during World War I. Leonora Galloway, who has for 50 years meticulously shunned discussion of her unpleasant childhood at the family ancestral home near Portsmouth, reveals her past to her daughter. In a controlled and measured way, Leonora recounts her tale, which includes discussion of Leonora's own questionable parentage, the details of an unsolved murder that occurred before she was born, her father's desertion from the army, and the ignominious end of a revered family name and a noble house. Enthralling to the final page. Literary Guild Alternate.Thomas L. Kilpatrick, Southern Illinois Univ. at Carbondale Lib.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 425 KB
• Publisher: Delta (May 29, 2007)
• Sold by: Random House Digital, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B000R38A4I
• Text-to-Speech: Not enabled
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #56,322 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best books I've ever read!!, May 18, 2001

By 

Jenn "jenncw" (SoCal) - See all my reviews

This review is from: In Pale Battalions (Paperback)

If you haven't ever read Goddard, start here, please! This book, despite dealing with some really thorny issues such as war, mistaken identity, blackmail, and abuse, retains such a misty quality about the narrative that you feel as if you are walking in someone else's dream. The mystery, far from being, shallow and gorey, like some American thrillers, insteady takes it's tension from a deep, involved and complicated series of realtionships and webs of lies that intruige the mind.

The story begins and ends with a mother taking her daughter on a walk through the WWI battlefield monuments of France, and explaining what has consumed her for most of her life: who her father was. The answer, given to her by a strange old artist, will surprise you.

If you want a deep, intelligent mystery, you must read this book!

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hard to Put Down, February 17, 2006

By 

Jolee (Tacoma, WA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: In Pale Battalions (Hardcover)

With so many plot twists and turns this is a book you can't put down until you've finally finished it. Most of the book is set during the time of World war I. Without being preachy the reader has insight to how the characters feel about the war, and how it changes their lives. Few, if any WW I vets are left to tell their story, I think that Robert Goddard gives us a little understanding into what fighting in the trenches meant, and the waste of lives that ensued. All the characters are well developed, but yet the author still manages to surprise the reader. Just when the reading thinks he/she has worked out the plot, there is another twist that leaves the reader breathless and wanting more. This is my favorite Robert Goddard book.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful variation on a familiar theme, August 13, 2007

By 

Stan Vernooy (Henderson, NV) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: In Pale Battalions (Paperback)

This is the story of a woman's search for the truth about the identity of her parents and the circumstances of her birth and early childhood. It is certainly not the first book I've ever read on that theme, but it is the best.

The woman, Leonora, was born during the first World War. Her father was a war hero who died in the murderous killing fields of the European slaughter. But wait a minute: the dates - her own birth and her purported father's death - don't match up. What is the real truth?

Leonora remembers Olivia, her witch of a step-grandmother, and and of course remembers what Olivia told her about her origins. But there wasn't much detail there, and Olivia was so spiteful that anything she said had to be taken with a grain of salt. And over the course of her life, Leonora manages to piece together the truth. Maybe.

Leonora learns some of the stories by virtue of her own research, and some other things she learns accidentally when she is contacted by people who were in a position to know SOME of the story. It is that word "some" that makes this book so fascinating. No single individual or set of documents is able to produce a logically consistent explanation for everything that happened. There is always at least one loose end. But Leonora persists, and finally, as an elderly woman, she believes she has pieced together the whole story.

The book is told flashback fashion, as Leonora relates the entire story to her daughter Penelope, who is by now a grown woman. And it can't escape the reader's attention that almost every bit of information Leonora has acquired has come to her as part of an oral history, related by someone who might have his or her own axe to grind. Once we come to the end, however, the bits and pieces hang together logically - in fact, brilliantly logically, as they always do with Goddard. Somehow the uncertainty about whether we really have the entire truth seems to make the ending more satisfactory, not less.

For me, one criterion for evaluating a book is: does each page make me want to read the next one? Perhaps more than any other writer, Goddard answers that question with a resounding "Yes." He is simply the best writer I have ever read for constructing complex plots that fit together logically with no holes. This is as good an introduction as any to his impressive talent.