The Year Without Summer by G.S. Wiley

[erastes]

I spent yesterday reading and reviewing this for Speak Its Name and then discovered (DOH) that it had already been reviewed in April.

However, I enjoyed it so much I wanted to put my own review out there, so here goes.

Lieutenant Robert Pierce of the Royal Navy was raised in the shadow of his father, a great admiral, and has spent his life on the high seas fighting the ships of Napoleon Bonaparte. When he loses a leg in battle and is confined to land, Robert is devastated. Taken in by his sister Maria, Robert faces the infamously cold, wet summer of 1816 trying to adjust to his new life. It's made all the gloomier by his worry for his best friend and lover, Lieutenant John Burgess, who is still at sea... until a visitor brings a bright ray of sunshine into Robert's overcast life.

The blurb caught my imagination immediately. There's not enough stories about the wounded after the Napoleonic wars, and I'd been dying to read one that dealt with it, in a way that wasn't amputee kink (not that I think there are any that are, thank goodness!) I warmed very much to poor Robert, whose life has pretty much come to an end, as far as he's concerned, and that's exactly how he would have felt.

After the introduction to Robert and his sister we have a lengthy flashback regarding his affair with John Burgess, the Lt he fell in love with and I have to say I loved this section; although being entirely circumspect in the face of their shipmates, as they would need to be,

Burgess is shown to have an impish sense of humour and there's a couple of things he does to entirely discombobulate Robert that I laughed out loud.

It's one of those books that manages to evoke a period without immense lumps of info dumping, the author is clever enough to give period touches, sights and sounds and smells which place you clearly in Portsmouth or elsewhere without the need for reams of description.

“No.” Robert could scarcely believe John of all people would make such a suggestion. “It may be that this is for the best.” He walked over to the window. Below, the bustling life of Portsmouth went on. Two midshipmen from another ship, as young and fresh-faced as Robert himself had once been, emerged, blinking, from a nearby bookseller’s. A couple of the Rose’s men, with girls on each arm, passed into the tavern beneath the window. “How so?” John leaned back. The straw mattress crackled beneath his weight.

and

Robert was suddenly acutely aware of John’s body above him, of his heat and strength, of the roughness of his woolen jacket and the smell of salt and sweat emanating from his skin. The sounds of voices on the street, the cheerful laughter and angry shouts, and the creaking of the ships in the harbor seemed far away.

It's a light touch, and more than enough to pull you into another time and place, I think.

I also liked that although John was a natural leader and a natural sailor, willing for the fight and all that, Robert was decidedly not, and not even in the unwilling hero mould that Hornblower was. He was in the Navy because of his unpopular Admiral father and it had made Robert an unpopular officer until he garners the friendship of John, and I loved the way that John saw the good in Robert that he often hid behind the shadow of his father, and the bitterness of his life.

The ubiquitous "handy lube" made me raise my eyebrows a little, because it was the salve that the doctor had recommended for Robert's stump which "smelled vile" but God alone knows what it was made of, so it seemed most unwise to use that--but it made me smile. Spit works, you know...

When the naval action starts it's fast and furious (and again, like Comstock, this book manages to pack a hell of lot in in under 60 pages) - I've said many times that my naval knowledge is zilch, but if there were any errors I didn't spot them, even if a rabid Age of Sail fan may do. It feels right and reads right, and that's good enough for me.

The ending is bittersweet, but in the same way entirely hopeful and works perfectly with the title and the theme of the book--coming through bad times and either giving in to them or not, and I for one think I know what happened, and you'll have to make your own decisions. A delightful read, which I simply can't give less than five stars.

I was tempted to knock off half a point because it really should have been a full sized novel, but that's just selfish. That the author could cram all this into 60 pages is a real achievement and this will definitely be a re-read for me, which is rare for a book that small.

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Comments

[alex-beecroft.livejournal.com]

Ooh, it does sound good, and I loved the bits you quoted. Nice cover too! I'll definitely have to look it up.

[jl_merrow]

Definitely going on my wishlist! :)

[erastes.livejournal.com]

Worth it, in my book! :D

[erastes.livejournal.com]

I think you'll like it - I can't guarantee the boat stuffs of course!

[alex-beecroft.livejournal.com]

My feeling tends to be that when people care enough to write a good story, then they generally care enough to get the other stuff right as well. At least, all the bad boat stuff I've ever noticed was in books where the story, characters and writing were all bad too.

With the exception of Jingo by Terry Pratchett, of course, whose sailors cry 'how can we slow the boat when you've thrown out the anchors?!'. (You could try taking in sail for a start.) And in his case I was enjoying the book so much I didn't mind anyway.