DEAD RECKONING

by Lawrence Battersby ‧ RELEASE DATE: N/A

British, Italian, and German characters affect one another’s lives in surprising ways in Battersby’s historical novel set before, during, and after World War II.

In 1933, British Master Mariner Edgar Moulton and his wife Lily arrive in London from Devon to visit the ‘epicentre of Edgar’s universe’: the London Naval Museum. Across town, the vivacious British-born Florence Lantieri is finalizing her divorce amid her active social life revolving around the La Società club, dedicated to Italian culture. It’s there that she met a fiery, young Italian man named Fortunato Picchi, who’s motivated her to not be a “tragic” woman, “rotting on the vine.” Fortunato, an ardent anti-fascist, works at the local Savoy Hotel, where three Germans from Leipzig—Ingeborg, Günter, and Bert—have checked in; they’ve come to visit their dear friend, Friedrich, a Jewish medical student who fled Germany and now picks potatoes in the English countryside; he’s also a friend of Edgar and Lily. The various characters’ lives intersect through pure chance, as when Fortunato steps in to stop a vicious attack on Ingeborg and Friedrich by local thugs. Years later, as Europe is ripped apart by war, Edgar is captain of a requisitioned ship, the Arandora Star, while Fortunato and Friedrich are in two different British internment camps on the Isle of Man. Meanwhile, beneath the ocean, Günter and Bert helm German U-boats set to destroy everything in their path. Once again, fate slowly pushes these people’s lives together in sometimes-shocking ways.

In this novel inspired by real events, Battersby constructs what he calls “a work of empathetic imagination.” With each character, the author takes great care to flesh out wholly different worlds and points of view; he weaves rich details about each character throughout the chapters, and readers will find it satisfying to see them connect, much like puzzle pieces clicking into place. This kaleidoscopic narration is a clever way to keep the narrative exposition engaging. However, it can also produce some frustrating results: The sudden time jumps, particularly involving Fortunato and the British internment camps, may have some readers wondering what they missed (either in this book or in history class). Battersby’s narration is most powerful when it focuses on how violence and its effects can become mundane, as when Edgar finds himself dealing with the logistical frustrations of dividing up different groups of refugees on his ship; Friedrich despairs at how to console a woman who’s lost not only her entire family, but also her country; and ships sink into the sea in spectacular moments of chaos that quickly settle, leaving behind only calm pools of oil on the water,“as though the ocean wished to silence the moans of several dismembered engineers.” By the time the story has reached the postwar period, the stories of Battersby’s characters offer a wide-ranging tableau of the war, from the emergence of subtle signs of fascism to horrific atrocities and back to an uneasy normal, showing how each change affects each person differently.

An inventive, multifaceted historical narrative that delivers haunting imagery of life during wartime.

Pub Date: N/A

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: N/A

Review Posted Online: July 18, 2024

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

Categories:

LITERARY FICTION | HISTORICAL FICTION | GENERAL FICTION