A trilogy of novels set during World War I which mingle real and fictional characters.
1. "Regeneration"
2. "The Eye in the Door"
3. "The Ghost Road"

"The Ghost Road" won the 1995 Booker Prize.
“Regeneration” and "The Ghost Road" are both on the 1001 Books list.

I've already read the "The Ghost Road", and thought it was excellent.
Would have preferred to read them in order, but it was a book group read.

I’ve now read “Regeneration”, the first book of the trilogy, and it richly deserves its place on the 1001 Books list.

A wonderfully written book and a very humane exploration of the traumas wrought on a whole generation of young men caught up in the brutality that was WWI. There is a mix of real and fictional characters and events which drives home the reality.

The time is 1917; the setting is mostly at Craiglockhart War Hospital in Scotland, a psychiatric hospital treating Officers suffering from ‘war neuroses’; the main protagonist is Captain (Dr) William Rivers; and one of his patients is Siegfried Sassoon, a decorated officer, who has written an anti-war declaration, but is torn between dedication to his men and a belief that the slaughter must stop.

While the book goes nowhere near the actual war, the effects on the men are clearly seen, and highlight the atrocities and horrors they have experienced. The never ending conflict between opposing the war, serving your country, not being labelled a coward, maintaining your sanity, and trying to stay alive rages in almost every soldier Rivers encounters. Many may survive the war physically, but the trauma their mental state endures produces effects more damaging than a lost limb or bullet wound. And Rivers has his own conflicts . . . is it madness for his patients to break down in the face of the horrors of war or is it is madness to allow the massive casualties to continue. He is duty-bound to try to heal his patients but feels guilty for sending them back to the atrocities of the Front where there is a good chance they will not survive.

An outstanding book in so many ways and highly recommended.

Book Two: The Eye in the Door

William Rivers is now working in London and the second instalment of the trilogy mostly concentrates on him and on Billy Prior (who we met at Craiglockhart) and who is now working in London in domestic intelligence.

The eye of the title refers (on a concrete level) to the spyhole in prison doors, but on a much more significant level represents the paranoia sweeping Britain in the search for someone to blame for the continuation of the war. The scapegoats of course end up being the pacifists and the homosexuals.

Rivers and Prior both develop as characters, and Prior’s inclusion allows examination of a wider set of social issues than would otherwise occur if Barker concentrated solely on the ‘gentleman officers’. It is this critique and social commentary embedded in the books that make them so marvellous.

A different book from “Regenration” in many ways, but just as impressive.

Book Three: The Ghost Road

The last book of the trilogy and a fitting ending. Book three continues to focus on both William Rivers and Billy Prior, although not often together. Prior returns to the front in France as the war is very slowly drawing closer to its end, making his diary entries heartbreaking in retrospect. We also learn more of Rivers’ anthropological experiences in Melanesia; his dreams and reminiscences prompted no doubt by the whole futility of the war and its horrendous costs.

A truly impressive trilogy of WW1 historical fiction. The meshing of real and fictional characters is a master stroke. Completely deserving of all the accolades.


Edited to add (next day):
I also read All Quiet on the Western Front late last year, and the parallels are obvious. And sobering, and gut-wrenchingly tragic. None of the millions of young men (and women) subjected to those horrors deserved that. None of them. No one.

Chosen from the OZ VBB so off to a new reader.

Taken from the OzVBB.

Thanks, crimson-tide. I've been meaning to read this for donkey's years but have never had all three to hand at the same time. This omnibus fixes that problem.