Got a bit fed up with this. Started off beautifully, struggled to finish it.
Think it was me rather than the book, I just slipped off track. ( )

[This is a review I wrote in 2008]

**A heart-wrenching First World War story**

With the huge popularity of other more recent World War One literature, such as "Birdsong", "Regeneration" etc., Jennifer Johnston's wonderful story has been largely forgotten about - but not rightly so.

In 'How Many Miles to Babylon' the author really gets to the heart of life for young men in the trenches of Northern France and she writes a truly mesmerising and horrifying story, with great skill and few words, which leaves you quite stunned at the end.

The story centres around Alec, a boy whom we meet at a young age, growing up with Anglo-Irish parents on a country estate in Southern Ireland. Alec leads a sheltered and lonely life as a boy, and neither parent provides him with companionship, so he is delighted to find a friend in a boy from the village, Jerry. The boys keep their friendship secret as both are acutely aware of class divisions and know that neither should be seen with the other. When their friendship is discovered a few years later both boys are desolate but some bonds cannot be broken, and the boys enlist and go off to war together. Jerry is off to learn to fight so he can put his skills to use for the Irish Nationalist Cause, and Alec (who vaguely believes in Home Rule) finds himself goaded into war by his mother. Kinship survives despite further class divide in the army, but some obstacles are insurmountable and the two young men find themselves facing a greater horror than the War itself.

Although there are other convincing novels that deal with trench warfare in the First World War, this one really stands out for me. You won't be disappointed. ( )

A story of friendship between two Irish boys, Alex, from a wealthy family and Jerry, a boy from a working class family in the village. Against all odds the friendship continued from youth into adulthood when they both enlisted to fight in WWI and served in the same unit.

It's an outstanding novel and although short, packs in a remarkable amount of detail in an understated way, all of which paints a much larger picture that takes in the Irish political scene of 1918, loyalty, love, as well as the fields of Flanders. It goes from the hopeful halcyon days of childhood to the tragedy that transpired.

Reading this in the month of the 100th anniversary of the end of WWI it occurred to me that in some ways not a lot has changed for combatants. Like Benedict's Sand Queen that I read recently, the enemy is not the only foe: comrades can be just as vengeful, in this case the ruthless CO, Glendinning.

An excellent book that I can highly recommend. I'll be on the lookout for more by this Irish author. ( )

This very short (+/-150 pages) but brilliant novel gives us two pictures: of Ireland shortly before and during WW I; and of life at the front, near Ypres, during the early stages of that war.
Alec and Jerry form that classic friendship of the upper-middle-class and the working-class boy. They enjoy themselves, horses, and the delights of a rural upbringing. In steps the heavy-handed Mother, the friendship is driven underground, and things go on.
Alec’s mother encourages him to enlist (her motives are murky). He doesn’t want to, and doesn’t have to, things in Ireland being a little troublesome. Alex goes out into the night, meets Jerry, discovers that he’s going to the war as well, and they proceed to get uproariously drunk.
Soon thereafter they’re at the front, in the same unit, but separated again by class. Their experiences, brief as they are, have profound effects on their lives.
Doesn’t sound like much, does it? Author Johnston manages to create a searing story of friendship, love, and politics all in one go. This is an amazing read; do please try it. I guarantee that you won’t regret it. ( )

A brilliant, haunting and heartbreaking story that does a great commentary on the senselessness of class and the brutality of war. It hammers home the importance of the two best equalisers in the world: love and death.

Longer discussion here: https://youtu.be/sq1GMERTVCI ( )