Barney Campbell’s “The Fires of Gallipoli,” with its depiction of the ghastliness of trench warfare, is as absorbing an account of that particular charnel house as I’ve ever read.
Among its horrors: A soldier remarking of another soldier that got caught on the wire that Jesus probably looked better on the cross. This after another soldier is blinded by an incoming mortar as he attempts an extrication.
And along with the carnage, some just plain bizarre bits, as when Lord Kitchener, he of “Your Country Needs You” poster fame, gets drawn into a conversation about knitting, or, in a departure from his usual taskmaster image, he guffaws at a front-line soldier’s comment that they’ve finally sent a decent recruit. And the seemingly odd circumstances of the field marshal’s death, detailed in both the novel’s text and an afterword, make for engaging speculation.
Not so engaging for me, though, was a post-Gallipoli interval in Constantinople having to do with efforts against Bolshevism which, while not irrelevant to the book’s action, struck me as a bit much for the novel to try to fit comfortably under its umbrella along with Gallipoli.
About Gallipoli, though, the book is magnificent, with its registration of the effects of the campaign on the novel’s two principals, one of whom gets involved with the other's sister in a romance I'd have liked to have seen more of.
History the way it should be depicted, in short, Campbell’s fine novel.

The story of two young men, Salter and Thorne who form a strong bond of friendship during the Great War. While this oftentimes was horrific in the descriptions of men who were killed during battle and the brutality of survival at all costs there was also eloquence to the storyline and quiet strength between these two brave young men who were faced with the horrors and their fears in the midst of a tragic war.

this was a strong historical fiction novel, it had that element that I was looking for and enjoyed from the concept. It worked with the World War 1 element. The characters were realistic for the time-period and was invested in what was happening. Barney Campbell has a strong writing style and was glad I read this.