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Birdsong

by Sebastian Faulks Book 2 in the French Trilogy series.

First published 1993

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4.1(93,323)

In 1910 Stephen Wraysford travels to Amiens on business and falls in love with Isabelle Azaire, the wife of his host. Their affair is intense and disruptive, leaving Stephen with memories that follow him when Europe moves from the confidence of the pre-war years into industrial conflict.

By 1916 Stephen is serving on the Western Front, where infantry attacks, underground mining and the Battle of the Somme reduce life to endurance and chance. The novel sets intimate passion beside mass violence and follows the way war survives in memory long after the men who fought it have disappeared.

Historical Periods

Pre-War Europe1900–1914 CE Battle of the Somme1916 CE Tunnelling and Mining on the Western Front1914–1918

Genres

Historical Sagas Romance Social & Domestic Fiction War Fiction

Series reading order

Books in the French Trilogy series

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