Lesley Glaister doesn’t pull her punches and the reader’s attention is grabbed from the get-go as we stand in the exhausted shoes of Clementine, a nurse struggling to keep sleep at bay in a Casualty Clearing Station and dealing with body parts during the horrors of the First World War. After the war, Clem tries to keep her memories of loss at bay, living a ‘respectable’ life as the wife of her doctor husband and young mother to her baby son, until a chance meeting with Vincent, a veteran whose trauma also goes deep. Glaister uses all her skills as a novelist to depict strong and highly memorable characters. Her observation of detail is excellent and the plot draws you in and takes you on unexpected and often unsettling directions to the shocking final resolution.
This is Glaister’s 15th novel and her first using this historical setting. I particularly enjoyed, if enjoyed is the right word, learning more about effects of war as Vincent deals with the terrible facial damage which leads him to wear a tin mask, and the relationship he and Clem develop, both damaged by the past. The novel swept me along from the outset; I read it in a one-er. Whether you’re new to Glaister or already a fan, this compelling novel will not disappoint.
[The library has a copy of Blasted Things]
