Almost ninety years after the so-called "Great" War came to an end, interest in the subject is as lively as ever. In the intervening years, accounts of the conflict, both fictional and biographical, have been produced and published with hardly a break, and I have read many of these. For this reason, although the topic fascinates me, it is usually with some apprehension that I pick up a new book on the subject. Surely everything must have been said by now, every possible angle explored ad nauseam?

It was a pleasant surprise to find that Allen Makepeace’s novel, And Such Great Names As These, if not exactly ground-breaking, at least provides a fresh slant on the conflict, told in intelligent, uncluttered prose with a strong sense of place. Unfolding the parallel stories of a one-parent family in the north of England and a deserter making his way back from France, the author draws the reader in from the opening paragraphs. The pen-picture of the grim northern town is as far removed from Catherine Cookson as the account of trench warfare is from Sebastian Faulks, and it all rings true.

I was initially unimpressed by the cover information to the effect that the book had won an award; the receipt of an award seldom guarantees a good read. The NAWG award, however, is presented by the National Association of Writers’ Groups, an organisation comprised chiefly of amateur writers. And Such Great Names As These is not a profound study of the human psyche or a diatribe on the pointlessness of war, but a popular novel, and very deserving of such an award. There is no question about where the author's sympathies lie. They rest with the central characters, whose less-than-spotless lives are viewed from the standpoint of 21st century enlightenment. Their intolerant contemporaries are portrayed very unflatteringly; there is little attempt to understand the motives of the bullies and gossips. Why, indeed, should there be?

The story is told through the eyes of Joshua Slater, a ten-year-old boy who looks forward with relish to a career as a miner or a shipyard worker. Joshua’s response to the often illogical behaviour of the adults around him helps to make things happen, not always for the best. Until Dexter’s path crosses that of Joshua and his adoptive mother, their future seems bright. Joshua comes across on times as rather too good to be true. We might excuse this by noting that life in that time and place was so hard that the opportunities for misbehaviour were limited. In a tight corner, Joshua proves handy with his fists, hinting at a not altogether blameless past history; but he has a keen sense of right and wrong, no doubt instilled in him by a strict chapel upbringing.