| The Street Philosopher” by Matthew Plampin |
Historical Fiction - Crimean War |
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| I don’t often read historical novels, as most of them are so god-awful. But a friend recommended “The Street Philosopher” by Matthew Plampin. It’s his first novel beautifully written and a tour de force. The story takes place during & after the Crimean war. The last old-fashioned Napoleonic style war. The civil war brought the world into the modern age of warfare. Simply better ways to slaughter more men. Not that the Crimean war was much less of a bloodbath.
The story is about Thomas Kitson, a one-time art critic who is sent as the London Couriers’ man on the ground in the Crimea.
There he witness’ unbelievable acts of treachery, and as Sebastopol burns he flees back to England. He takes the only job available a “street philosopher” for a Manchester paper. What today is called a gossip columnist. In Manchester the treachery and betrayal of the Crimean war are given some form of justice. Not legal justice but justice all the same.
The beauty of the book is the writer wonderful ability to bring the characters and time to life without nary an inauthentic word or behavior. He conveys the horrors of the war, the horrors of working class life in industrialized England and the hypocrisy of society. All excellently done. I have but one caveat, it takes a few pages to get into, but once you are into it is very, very worthwhile. |
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