Thoroughly enjoyed this book. great descriptions and a sensitive plot and characters! I've not read this author before but will do so again in the future!

Great read. The author wrote a story that was interesting and moved at a pace that kept me engaged. The characters were easy to invest in.

Poor boy makes good in this pedestrian tale that wanders from the London slums to a mining community to a country house and the trenches of the Somme. It didn’t hold my interest as I found it far too predictable, sentimental and at times melodramatic, with one-dimensional characters and a good smattering of clichés and purple prose. Conventional and formulaic and far too long.

I thought the parts set in the war were excellent, but didn't enjoy the rest of it, reminded me of Catherine Cookson books!

Simon Tolkien has written a wonderful book based on his grandfather JRR Tolkien's experiences during WW1, and its aftermath. Although this book is fiction it is based on facts.

Adam Raine is a man who has had a rough upbringing and poverty in turn of the century London and tragedy strikes when his mom is killed in a protest march. After this happens his father is barely able to make it through the despair and loss he has suffered as well. After this they go to Scarsdale to work as miners. Adam does not fit in and is virtually friendless. After workers protest against the owner of Scarsdale's mine, and things change again for Adam, he finds someone to love, a preacher's daughter, Miriam. They become engaged and Adam wins a scholarship to Oxford, and true to life he finds himself going off to war and fighting in France. There he sees the atrocity of war and the after effects. Also the hardships of everything changing as they enter the new modern society.

I enjoyed the characters, and the settings of this book and it is rich in history, I feel like the author did a great job conveying us through his word to a whole new place along with its successes, failures and the challenge of just surviving each day.

I gave this book 5 stars and am glad I got to read it.

I did enjoy this book but not as much as I usually like Simon's previous books.
It is entertaining and well written but I found it a bit too long.

I would most likely read again in a few years