The Casemate Classic War Fiction Series publishers new editions of
forgotten classics that perfectly capture their era.
A profound and very human account of the early years of the war, told
from the perspective of a father rather than combatants, but no less
revealing.
Mr Britling lives in the quintessentially English town of Matching's
Easy in Essex. He is a great thinker, an essayist, but most of all an
optimist. When war arrives he is forced to reassess many of the things
he had been so sure of. The war brings great change - Belgian refugees
come with dreadful stories and everywhere it seems there are young men
dressed in khaki. The family's young German tutor is forced to head back
to Germany, and Mr Britling's seventeen year old son enlists in the
Territorials. Day by day and month by month, Wells chronicles the
unfolding events and public reaction as witnessed by the inhabitants of
one house in rural Essex. Each of the characters tries in a different
way to keep their bearings in a world suddenly changed beyond
recognition. Tragedy ensues, Mr Britling must wrestle with outrage,
grief and attempts at rationalisation as he 'sees it through'.
Written in 1916, while the outcome of the war was still uncertain, this
is both a fascinating portrait of Britain at war, and a chronicle of
events seen from a contemporary perspective, and an insight into H G
Wells himself, Mr Britling being a largely autobiographical character.
