October 2014 - Coming Home & An Officer and a Spy

Coming Home --  Sue Gee             31/10/14

This book wasn't well received by the group; in fact the majority disliked it and thought it DULL! DULL! DULL!

Sue Gee first wrote it, then after her second book came out, which was a success, they published it hoping it would fly on the back of the other book. The group wondered what the point of the book was and couldn't see what Sue Gee was trying to say. It was nice descriptive writing but the story line was dreadful and they were glad when it was finished.

The book was about a family who came home to England after the fall of the Raj, they tried to adapt but found it difficult.

The only discussion about the book revolved around:

- Father - tedious life.

- Flo - mentally ill, stigma about mental illness.

- Freddy - who was sent to boarding school, where he was bullied, homesick and felt unwanted. His father had said the saying ‘You’re no son of mine' and Freddy believed this and always thought he was adopted. There was also evidence of paedophiles at the school.

Some of the group said they could relate to the 50/60's which was the era the book was set, so Sue Gee got that right. We were reassured by Lis that we shouldn't be put off by reading another Sue Gee book as she really was a good writer.

Marks 5 DRW.

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An Officer and a Spy   --   Robert Harris

The majority of the group couldn't put this book down until they had finished it, others thought this book was difficult to get into and kept picking it up but couldn't find the flow, but the contention was that it was a good book. As always with Robert Harris, the book is exceedingly well written and researched using Dreyfus and Picquart's own words taken from court records. The difficulty was the movement in time, which period the chapter you were reading related to.

The book was about a true event in France in 1895. Captain Albert Dreyfus was detained and charged with being a spy. The evidence was so flimsy that the Statistical Section, a shadowy intelligence unit within the army falsified many documents, going so far as to forge letters and telegrams pointing to his complicity. Albert Dreyfus was not a popular officer, he flaunted his wealth, intelligence and abilities, and he was efficient but kept himself apart from the other officers. He was disliked because of all these things, but most of all because he was a Jew. (We all were surprised how the Jews were vilified in France at this time) After the trial he was deported to Devils Island supposedly for the rest of his life, and because he wouldn't confess he was subjected to barbaric treatment which nearly cost him his life.

Major Georges Picquart an officer on the general staff who was instrumental in connection with the conviction of Dreyfus was promoted to the rank of Colonel, much to his dismay, was given the position of head of the Statistical Section. The officers who made up this secret section believed he would be an acting head only, and would leave them to carry out their work as before. Picquart was a hands-on officer and involved himself in all the departments of the organisation wanting to know who does what and how they went about their duties. He uncovered discrepancies in the Dreyfus affair as it become to be known, and questioned the evidence. He believed another officer could be the spy and Dreyfus was innocent. Picquart took his findings to his superiors who stalled him in every way as they could not back down in fear of being exposed as corrupt. He was convinced that there had been a miscarriage of justice and being a man of principles he went to such lengths that he was imprisoned himself. Throughout Dreyfus's internment Picquart was sent to Tunisia in the hope he would get into the conflict there and die, but he stubbornly lived, this only produced another spell in prison for him.

Emil Zola took up Dreyfus's cause and went public with accusations that the Army knew who the real spy was and demanded a re-trial. After lengthy chapters, the outcome of the trial exonerates both Dreyfus and Piquart, They were both reinstated into the army with higher ranks. In Piquarts case he became a General and Minister of War. The relationship between Major Albert Dreyfus and General Georges Picquart was still distant but respectful.

Robert Harris was clever through out the book, as Dreyfus was dislikeable.

The culprits in framing Dreyfus all get their comeuppance:-

General Mercier, General Boisdeffre, General Gonse, Colonel Sandherr, Major Henry. Captain Lauth, M. Gribelin, Colonel du Paty, Esterhazy.

Marks = 8 DRW