Small Wars: A Novel [Hardcover]

Sadie Jones (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 19, 2010

Hal Treherne is a young and dedicated soldier on the brink of a brilliant career. Impatient to see action, his other deep commitment is to Clara, his beautiful 'red, white and blue girl', who sustains him as he rises through the ranks. When Hal is transferred to the Mediterranean, Clara, now his wife, and their baby daughters join him. But Cyprus is no 'sunshine posting', and the island is in the heat of the Emergency: the British are defending the colony against Cypriots - schoolboys and armed guerrillas alike - battling for enosis, union with Greece. The skirmishes are far from glorious and operations often rough and bloody. Still, in serving his country and leading his men, Hal has a taste of triumph. Clara shares his sense of duty. She must settle down, make no fuss, smile. But action changes Hal, and Clara becomes fearful - of the lethal tit-for-tat beyond the army base, and her increasingly distant husband. The atrocities Hal is drawn into take him further from Clara; a betrayal that is only part of the shocking personal crisis to come. The prizewinning and bestselling author of The Outcast returns with an emotionally powerful portrait of a marriage in extremis and a world-view in question. Sadie Jones has produced a passionate, gut-wrenching and brilliantly researched depiction of a 'small war' with devastating consequences; and in doing so, raises important questions that resonate profoundly today.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. In her excellent second novel (after The Outcast), Jones sets a couple down in turbulent 1956 Cyprus as the Cypriots seek union with Greece and resist British rule. British army major Hal Treherne is dispatched to Cyprus, taking along his wife, Clara, and their young twin girls. There, they fight separate, but equally maddening, battles—Clara as an army wife with babies in an increasingly dangerous land, and Hal on the front lines where, yearning for firefights, he is instead haunted by his lack of control when torture and rape occur at the hands of his own men. While Hal dodges mortal danger, Clara tries to keep the homefront together, struggling to remain supportive of him as she remains isolated with the twins and he is tormented by the violence he witnesses. After Clara narrowly avoids death, Hal makes a split-second decision with powerful implications for their future. The narrative is excruciatingly tense and also graced with real emotion as a marriage is pushed to the brink and loyalties are stretched and broken. It's the perfect mix of poignant and harrowing. (Jan.)
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From Booklist

Jones’ debut novel, The Outcast (2008), won the Costa First Novel Award in Great Britain. In her sophomore effort, she deploys the same coolly dispassionate style in a novel about how the demands of war warp human emotions, both for the soldiers and the women who love them. Hal Treherne is a major in the British Army transferred to Cyprus in the 1950s, where he is joined by his wife, Clara, and their twin daughters. Although Hal is eager to enter the fray after years spent performing routine training exercises, he is unprepared for the moral quagmire that is Cyprus. In a war resonant of the current conflict in Afghanistan, homemade roadside bombs are the weapons of choice, and they are often planted by preteen boys. Torturous interrogation methods, brutal retaliation by frustrated British soldiers, and an inflexible army hierarchy conspire to undermine Hal’s dedication. Meanwhile, Clara becomes increasingly afraid of her husband, whom she no longer recognizes. A thought-provoking meditation that powerfully evokes both the costs of waging war and the loving bonds of marriage. --Joanne Wilkinson

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Harper; 1 edition (January 19, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061929883
• ISBN-13: 978-0061929885
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.8 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (36 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,350,343 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Soldier As Dorian Gray, December 14, 2009

By 

Jill I. Shtulman (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Small Wars: A Novel (Hardcover)

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This is a riveting achievement -- perhaps the most personal and devastating novels about the effects of war on the human soul that I have ever read.

At the center of this book is Hal Treherne, a major in the British Army, called to duty to the British colony of Cyprus. There, he and his beautiful young wife, Clara, and their two baby daughters, set up life in the midst of escalating skirmishes.

Like the mythical Dorian Gray, Major Treherne initially becomes infatuated...with the glory of war. But his euphoria quickly fades. Early on, he directs a siege, where an ambush group pours petrol down the exit shaft of a cave, followed by grenades, and stands by as men -- either blackened or burned -- come stumbling out. Gradually, this, and other debaunched acts, darken his soul while outwardly, he gives the appearance of being successful and in command.

Even finding comfort with Clara becomes impossible. Sadie Jones writes: "Without looking at her, he took his eye down her horizon...small hill for head, little steep valley into neck, hill off shoulder, deep valley to wait...not a home landscape then, an island." The love and sustenance this couple found in each other disintegrates; although it is not defined, this is a devastating portrait of post traumatic stress disorder.

As Hal and Clara each struggle -- separately and alone -- to remain human in an inhuman world, the atrocities begin to hit home. And Hal is faced with a choice: to make a separate peace or to continue the insanity.

This is an extraordinarily polished book; Sadie Jones knows just when to lead the reader with lush detail and when to step back and let the reader's imagination take over. It evokes books such as Ian McEwan's Atonement,Hemingway's Farewell to Arms, and Kate Grenville's The Lieutenant, but yet carves a niche all its own. I will not soon forget it.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Military family on Cyprus during the insurrection, December 5, 2009

By 

David N. Parker "pflagtnet" (Colfax, NC USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Small Wars: A Novel (Hardcover)

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Small Wars is built around one of the native insurrections that eventually destroyed the British Empire's colonial system. Dedicated young Major Hal Treherne is posted there to help maintain Cyprus as British territory in opposition to the Cypriots who desire union with Greece. His wife Clara and young children join him there, all of them thinking this would be a pleasant posting and an excellent career move.
Greek Cypriot nationalism is increasing. It is 1956, and a revolution is brewing. Terrorist attacks are getting bolder - and Hal's assignment is to catch and bring in or kill the revolutionaries and their supporters. As the attacks - by both sides - increase, Hal spends more and more time away from his family. The British arrest and interrogate many Greek Cypriots. As Hal participates in the fighting and killing, and becomes aware of the severity of the torture involved with the interrogations, he begins to question the actions of his soldiers and superiors.
Meanwhile, Clara is becoming more and more frightened for herself and her children. The terrorist attacks have reached the British compound, and she is afraid to go out of the house. Hal, her only real emotional support, is seldom home and she feels escalating concern over his safety.
The reader cannot help but become involved with this family and the events that batter them. While the war in Cyprus is considered a small police action by the British authorities, it has a devastating impact on the soldiers' families.
Small Wars is very timely and is well written.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Small Wars, Big Story, November 29, 2009

By 

Jeanne Anderson (Swartz Creek, MI United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Small Wars: A Novel (Hardcover)

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Don't let the the cover of this book fool you as it did me. This is no light War Love Story. It is the story of when the British Military were in Cyprus during the 1950's. This is the account of a battalion who got "caught up in the battle to defend the island against Cypriots seeking enosis, union with Greece."

Major Hal Treherne, his wife Clara and their young twin daughters are all in Cyprus together. Families of soldiers are allowed to live with them at this posting. Hal deals all day with some pretty gruesome battles, faced with making decisions that civilians would and should never have to make. He is also in charge of many men under him. In turn he returns home to his family almost daily trying to behave as a "normal" family man. It is not so easy.
There are many things I found hard to read yet it gave me a much better understanding of what really happens in war,what men and women are capable of if put to the test.

It is also a study of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, although it is never mentioned in the book. I found this to be a very good book by this author.