‘Not in the least realizing what this might mean, I grinned.’ 

Described as autobiographical, this novel draws on Mr Cummings’s experience as a captive at a ‘dépot de triage’ at La Ferté-Macé in Normandy during the autumn and winter of 1917. Edward Estlin Cummings (1894-1962) and his friend William Slater Brown (1896-1997) served as ambulance drivers with the American Red Cross in France during World War I. Several of Brown’s letters, expressing anti-war sentiments, fell foul of the military censors. He was arrested as a consequence, while Cummings was arrested as his staunch friend. The pair were at La Ferté-Macé awaiting the verdict of a military commission to rule on their guilt. 

Much of the novel is taken up with Mr Cummings’s description of people and place at La Ferté-Macé. The enormous room is a description of where the prisoners were housed. This is largely a tale of friendship, of how various prisoners worked together to minimise their hardship. 

After some months, the military commission arrived, and their decision was handed down. Brown (‘guilty’) was transferred to prison, while Cummings (classified as a ‘suspect’) was permitted to travel to a remote commune where he was kept under observation. Following American intervention, Cummings was released and arrived back in the USA on January 1, 1918. 

I struggled at times: my rudimentary French required me to take frequent detours for translation, and that slowed me down, but didn’t deter me. Although I should confess that I only read this novel because it met the criteria for one of the reading challenges I am undertaking.  

‘To convince the reader that this history is mere fiction (and rather vulgarly violent fiction at that) nothing perhaps is needed save that ancient standby of sob-story writers and thrill-artists alike—the Happy Ending.’ 

Jennifer Cameron-Smith