Book
Starshine
First published 2012
When war begins in 1914, childhood friends Jim Hickman and Bertie Murphy enlist and are sent to France, leaving behind Polly, the woman both men love. In the trenches their friendship is tested by shellfire, machine guns and the grinding repetition of attack and loss. Jim earns decorations and outward recognition while Bertie becomes increasingly damaged by what he sees, and Polly’s unresolved feelings for both men ensure that the emotional consequences of war continue far beyond the battlefield.
Unlike the Simon Fonthill adventures, Starshine is a standalone First World War novel centred on ordinary infantrymen and the families waiting at home. Its setting is the Western Front, and Wilcox drew on the service of his own father and six uncles, all of whom fought in the war. The novel’s military detail is therefore paired with a domestic story about comradeship, psychological trauma and love under the pressure of prolonged industrial warfare.
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