Notes of a Camp Follower on the Western Front


Read by Clive Catterall

(4.7 stars; 17 reviews)

In 1915 Oscar Hornung, son of the famous author E W Hornung, was killed at Ypres after less than a year as a soldier in Flanders. He was only 20. Two years later E W Hornung volunteered to help run one of the YMCA canteens close behind the front line.


This book is Hornung’s own account of the time he spent in Northern France: first helping in a canteen, then running a library for the enlisted men. He wanted to be near the place where his son died, to meet the young soldiers who were fighting the war, and to make their lives a little better. More than anything, Hornung wanted to believe there was a greater purpose to he war: in his descriptions soldiers are always heroes, the struggles just, and leaders wise and kind.


But whatever his motivations and blind-spots, Hornung brought all his skills as a highly experienced novelist to the task of telling his story. We feel we are there with him while he talks to the soldiers, travels to the front line to serve cocoa and biscuits under fire, and finally sets up a lending library only a couple of miles from No Man’s Land. Even Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (a former friend who reported Hornung to the authorities for promoting pacifism) grudgingly admitted that this book contains some of the best descriptions of life on the Western Front.


(The cover shows the western front as it passed trough the town of Arras in 1918 at the time the author would have known it)


(Summary by Clive Catterall) (5 hr 33 min)

Chapters

Chapters 1 and 2 25:11 Read by Clive Catterall
Chapters 3 and 4 18:45 Read by Clive Catterall
Chapters 5 and 6 18:10 Read by Clive Catterall
Chapters 7 and 8 26:02 Read by Clive Catterall
Chapters 9 and 10 31:37 Read by Clive Catterall
Chapters 11 and 12 23:01 Read by Clive Catterall
Chapter 13 24:38 Read by Clive Catterall
Chapters 14 and 15 26:07 Read by Clive Catterall
Chapters 16 and 17 31:19 Read by Clive Catterall
Chapters 18 and 19 22:16 Read by Clive Catterall
Chapters 20 and 21 28:18 Read by Clive Catterall
Chapters 22 and 23 25:13 Read by Clive Catterall
Chapters 24 and 25 33:18 Read by Clive Catterall

Reviews


(3 stars)

The reader did an excellent job, very pleasant voice to listen to, the sound was very clear and I think this is the reason I listened to the whole thing .As I found the book was very wordy a lot of the time and the author's style of writing didn't " take me to the trenches ".

Notes of a Camp Follower on the Western Front Review


(5 stars)

An excellent reading of a wonderfully written wartime journal. It's as though the author himself is still living and describing everyday life near the Front. 5 stars to Mr. Catterall for a wonderful recording!


(5 stars)

The reader brings this book to life! A very enjoyable and informative audiobook…..