
A weary voice lifts the veil on the world that emerged from the Great War, questioning the glittering myths of heroism that still cling to the battlefield’s ruins. The narrator, haunted by the memory of a vanished yet immortal Julie, invites listeners to glimpse a reality far messier than the polished stories told at home. In a tone that balances bitter irony with quiet compassion, the opening sets a stage where faith, disillusionment and the lingering scent of gunpowder intertwine.
Through the eyes of Peter—once called Simon—and the enigmatic Julie, the novel follows a handful of souls drifting through cafés, ruined towns and fleeting romances as they try to make sense of a peace that feels as fragile as glass. Their encounters reveal a world where war’s glamour has faded, replaced by restless longing, moral ambiguity, and moments of unexpected tenderness. Listeners will be drawn into a portrait of post‑war life that is vivid, unsettling, and undeniably human.
Language
en
Duration
~10 hours (607K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Release date
2005-01-03
Rights
Public domain in the USA.
Subjects

1887–1927
A priest-turned-novelist who wrote with unusual frankness about faith, war, love, and colonial life, he became one of the more controversial British writers of the 1920s. His books drew on a life that took him from Cambridge to Zanzibar, South Africa, and finally Tahiti.
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