2020/060: Kingdom of Silence -- Jonathan Grimwood

The lull of that day, not the slaughter either side of it, is what I will remember best. I’m young, very young. The sky is blue and larks sing beneath a broken tree, and the planes are tiny toys above me. That’s enough to make me happy. [loc. 1323]

The story begins on New Year's Eve 1918, when decorated war hero Eddie Sackville tells Lady Hippolyta Merrill -- Polly -- about the Kingdom of Silence, high in the Himalayas, where he grew up. He also tells Lady Bowes-Yates about the No-Mans-Land death of her son Harry, which he witnessed: and she is glad of the truth.

From there, Kingdom of Silence shows us Eddie's war, from the trenches to the Royal Flying Corps, and his subsequent appointment (courtesy of Polly's father) as British Resident to the Kingdom. In parallel is the story of Polly and her daughter Kate, on a desperate quest in British India in 1943 with only a young lieutenant, Johnny Westland, for company and protection. During treks through the night and under the threat of Japanese invasion, Kate recounts her various birthdays to Johnny, revealing a life of miserable privilege.

This is a captivating novel about the monstrousness of war, and the glimpses of beauty and peace that Eddie treasures. Eddie is a marvellously unreliable narrator, who borrows his name from a wine merchant's dray, and doesn't know his birthday but knows he's not old enough to go to war. Polly's daughter Kate, too, is a born storyteller. And Polly is brave, determined and romantic -- though not, as she acknowledges, a very good mother.

I loved this book: the vividness of the settings, the ways in which character is revealed, the uncompromising refusal to sugar-coat the characters' flaws. That said, the novel itself is not flawless. There are a few loose ends (what became of Harriet, Harry Bowes-Yates' sister, who seemed to be shaping up to become a significant secondary character?). I'd have liked more about Eddie's life in the Twenties and Thirties. And I do wish the novel had been better proof-read, especially towards the end. Many typos! I'd be happy to help ...