The Empty Greatcoat

Disgrifiad Cymraeg / Welsh Description

Pan fo Francis House yn listio yn y Fyddin Brydeinig yn 1907, ychydig dros ei 15 mlwydd oed, dyw e' ddim yn meddwl am ryfela, mewn gwirionedd. Ond daw i sylweddoli'n fuan nad yw bod yn filwr yn ddigon. Stori wedi'i hysbrydoli gan hanes teuluol yr awdures, wrth iddi ailddychmygu cyfnod ei gor-or-ewythr a fu'n ymladd yn Gallipoli yn ystod y Rhyfel Byd Cyntaf.

Disgrifiad Saesneg / English Description

When Francis House enlists in the British Army in 1907 at 15 years and three months, he is not thinking about war. He imagines he simply wants to earn his stripes - to ease his traumatised father's Boer War memories, or perhaps to please his favourite sister, Lily, with whom he has always dreamt of adventure. But he soon discovers that simply becoming a soldier is not enough.

Dosbarthu

Byddwn yn dosbarthu eitemau sydd mewn stoc o fewn 3 diwrnod gwaith, fel arfer drwy Royal Mail Tracked 48. Ar gyfer archebion o flaen llaw, byddwn yn dosbarthu’r eitem o fewn 3 diwrnod gwaith ar ôl ei derbyn gan ein cyflenwr.

Dispatch

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Adolygiad y Cyhoeddwr / Publisher Review

This is a story that considers the effect of war on a generation of young men who were irrevocably damaged by the terrors of it – specifically, the circumstances of the First World War. More importantly, though, Rebecca F. John explores the sometimes desperate places in which these men found hope whilst living a life that seemed devoid of it. John uses her protagonist, Francis House, to depict these consequences of conflict in The Empty Greatcoat , portraying Francis as a once-optimistic teenage boy eager to enlist in the army and, thus, prove himself as a man to his toxically masculine father. Therefore, Francis declares his arrival as a willing soldier at Gallipoli, ‘the site of his greatest opportunity’. Yet, the horrors he discovers along the Turkish coast destroy this spirit and Francis, unable to cope, retreats to his imagination to survive the constant anguish that war brings and does so with the help of opium, which he has been prescribed for pain caused by his pleurisy. His inability to grapple with reality worsens his mental state as he is already plagued by guilt, not just because of the fear that he is not living up to his father’s standards as a man, but also because of what this war has forced him to become. So, the lines between the real and non-real are blurred both for Francis and for John’s readers, as her protagonist becomes familiar with encountering the supernatural and ends up spilling his soul to those who haunt him. Portraying the paranormal in her works is a skill the author has expertly harnessed and it is a theme she clearly enjoys writing about (see her debut novel, The Haunting of Henry Twist ), but in The Empty Greatcoat , John materializes some of her own ghosts. In the Author’s Note at the back of the book, she confesses that this story is based on a series of diary entries by Francis House, her great-great-uncle who fought at Gallipoli during the First World War. John writes that she felt it was her obligation to tell the real Francis House’s story, and this is absolutely felt throughout the novel. There is an underlying element of respect that is given to the character of House, and the other soldiers for that matter, by the omniscient narrator, who never casts any judgment but instead simply tells the story of one man’s uncensored and individual experience. The way John causes truth and fiction to collide in her book – using her familial history and craft as a writer – reminds readers how important storytelling is, and that humans must keep re-telling stories such as this because these men and what they went through should never be forgotten. The context that informs this novel and the way it is depicted is what makes the text most compelling. On the surface, John’s retreat to history is welcomed, offering a refreshing viewpoint that allows an escape from modernity and puts contemporary hardships into perspective – but fundamentally, the author’s familial attachment to this time period ensures that one does not forget the truth that lies at the heart of this book, which is of paramount importance.