The German Prisoner
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Brilliant in its stark depiction of trench warfare in World War I, this lost classic was privately printed in a limited edition in 1930. British censors initially suppressed the short novel because of its tough antiwar views and sympathetic portrayals of German soldiers, and even today's readers may be unprepared for its scenes of horrific battlefield carnage and men driven to madness by relentless psychological stress. Providing a new view of an underappreciated Canadian author, the book also stands as a fascinating addition to the comparatively small shelf of literature by writers who fought in the Great War.
James Hanley
James Hanley (1897–1985) was born in Liverpool, England, to an Irish Catholic family. He spent time in the merchant navy and served with the Canadian Infantry during World War I. From 1930 to 1981 Hanley published forty-eight books, including the novels Boy, The Furys, The Ocean, Another World, and Hollow Sea. He penned plays for radio, television, and theater and published a work of nonfiction, Grey Children, on the plight of coal miners. Hanley died in London but was buried in Wales, the setting for many of his works.
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