RATING: VERY GOOD
SPOILERS!!!
After Malta, Charles is sent to England. He is an officer now and instructs some other new recruits. He manages to go home on leave occasionally, and he starts a relationship with another officer, Bucknall, who has a reputation of a woman's man, but in secret he has his trysts with Charles. They are very discreet, and Charles knows that there is no affection coming from this man. Then he learns that the ship where he was stationed has been torpedoed, and that means that Cushty is dead, which upsets Charles greatly. That is the last time he and Bucknall are together. When Bucknall is transferred, Charles writes to him some months later, but Bucknall replies, saying that he is now married and his wife received the letter at home. Bucknall threatens Charles and won't allow any communication between them. This is no surprise for him, and Charles keeps the letter in case he has to use it against this man.
When the war is over, Charles uses the government programmes to go to university, and he trains to be a teacher. After graduating, he has a job in the local school, and he lives with his mother. He keeps writing his poetry and his plays. Then Laura and Charles have a surprise when Cushty reappears. Apparently, he wasn't on the ship when he was torpedoed. Charles is so shocked that he can't react. Laura gives him some privacy, but something happens between them as Charles locks himself away in his room, and Cushty leaves. Laura tells him to come visiting, but she has the hunch that he won't. I think it is very sweet that Laura is so naive in some aspects of life, and when she reads an article about some young men being arrested for indecent behaviour, she does not know what kind of behaviour that may be.
I really loved the book. The language was so beautiful and I loved to read the characters' thoughts. At the end of the book the author explains that this novel is a loose account of the life of real poet Charles Causley. I had never heard about this poet before.
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