The FALKLANDS Summer

• Main Author: BRANFIELD, JOHN (Author)
• Format: Book
• Language: English
• Published: London Victor Gollancz 1987
• Subjects: Fiction
• Online Access: Click Here to View Status and Holdings.

 It is towards the end of the summer of 1982 and the ships are bringing the victorious troops home from the Falklands. Great crowds of people are at the ports cheering, and Matthew, who has followed every media report of the war with avid interest, is elated. Matthew is fifteen and lives in Cornwall, in Great Britain. He has just finished his O level exams and has important decisions to make. Will he go on to do his A levels? If so, what subjects will he do? What profession will he choose? But Mathew is caught up in a fantasy world of dare and glory. He has big plans for his holidays and big plans for life. What events will happen during the end of this rapturous Falklands summer? This is a story about youth, that glorious time when everything seems to glow with possibility. It is also a story about responsibility and the ordinary challenges of common life. The story will instantly appeal to every boy who has seen a war movie but is about issues deeper than those canvassed in most hero films. Matthew is a boy more interested in adventure than school study, and, as such, is a very realistic portrait of many youths of that age. As the story progresses Matthew learns and grows. His friends Robert and Conan are described in less detail though, and they do not stand out as individuals or memorable characters. The plot is adequate, though in parts a little lackluster. These moments of dullness, however, are certainly justified by the overall themes of the book. Don't get me wrong, the novel is never boring and I certainly read it too the end without any difficulty. This book was first published in 1987 and the Falklands War was by then no longer a current affair, so the novel has always been more of the historical genre. The theme of war in general is perennial and I'm sure most modern young readers will understand and relate to the deeper issues covered. There are occasional references to past rock bands and songs, and these will be a mystery to young readers, but these points are in no way central to the text and can be easily passed over. In all this was not a bad book and I can certainly say I liked it, though I did not love it.