Superb Novel of the Hell Inside Soldiers

The Young Lions is a superbly plotted novel by Irwin Shaw about three solders in World War II. Christian Diestl is a cultured German; Noah Ackerman is an American Jew; Michael Whitacre is a clumsy ,idealistic, American playwright. This is not so much a “war is hell” story as a story about the hell men carry with them to war. War defines and intensifies each one’s essential nature.

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Pilgrim’s Inn Is Restful, Renewing

Pilgrim’s Inn is Elizabeth Goudge’s gentle novel of an English family pulling themselves back together after World War II. The renovation of the Herb o’ Grace becomes an opportunity for each member of the extended household to find peace and to restore and build relationships.

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Shannon’s Way Is All Downhill

Shannon’s Way is A. J. Cronin’s sequel to The Green Years. Robert Shannon, now an M.D., is working in a research lab, bitterly doing grunt work. He finds comfort and encouragement in Jean Law, an attractive medical student headed for the mission field, but religious differences separate them.

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Raintree County Is Impenetrable

Ross Lockridge Jr.’s Raintree County is one of the best novels you will never read. It’s only for the literati or readers serving consecutive life sentences.

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