Grapes of Wrath

Under shellfire, four infantrymen discover how much they depend on one another. Their jokes, fears, and stubborn loyalty give this First World War novel its human force.

Boyd Cable wrote Grapes of Wrath while serving as a forward observation officer on the Western Front, completing much of it in the Somme area during and after the 1916 offensive. His aim was to show a major attack from the ordinary infantry private's point of view: the waiting, the bombardment, the advance, and the costly work of holding captured ground.

At the heart of the story are four men of the fictional 5/6 Stonewalls battalion: Larry Arundel, a well-bred Londoner; Billy Simson, a suburban counter hand; Pug, a Cockney with a gift for dark comedy; and Kentucky, an American volunteer. As they move from a night bivouac through assaults and counter-attacks, distinctions of class give way to shared danger. Cable's tone is not one of retrospective disillusionment. He finds courage in practical acts, tenderness amid hardship, and laughter that briefly interrupts terror. The result offers readers today an immediate encounter with the experience and outlook of soldiers fighting the war.

What readers find inside:

• Frontline friendship - Four contrasting soldiers form bonds across social divisions.
• The infantryman's view - Barrages, open-ground advances, and captured trenches reveal the demands of a major offensive.
• Humor under fire - Jokes and a comic misunderstanding in a dugout show how laughter helps the men endure.
• The struggle to hold ground - Counter-attacks and tank operations carry the fighting beyond the first assault.
• A biblical echo - Kentucky's recollection of Battle Hymn of the Republic gives the novel's title its resonance.

This book will appeal to readers of First World War fiction, those interested in the Somme and trench warfare, and anyone drawn to stories of comradeship under pressure.

Step into the Stonewalls' ranks and experience the Western Front through the men who must cross it.