I'd heard this novel was based on history and had a strong family history strain. Both things are true and there is indeed much for the family historian: 10 generations of the Green family are named; we learn that Green is probably an adopted name anyway; a crucial part of the story is the fate of the protagonist's descendants, and so on.

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      There is far more to this book. The author has an intuitive mind and understands people; this shows particularly in the dialogue and actions (even at the level of characters' gestures) throughout.

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     `Tommy Green' is diverted by the beautiful, though `unobtainable' girl of a higher social class, Mazod Betham. This is shown at the very beginning with the opening words: `She smiled at me. Yesterday, she smiled at me!' But events we now think of as milestones in history intervene. These flow naturally with the storyline and aren't a disguised history lesson. Whether this is through a chance meeting, or via the interactions of old friends, the characters are believable and not stereotypical.

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      There is a wholly unexpected conclusion. The people, narrative and dialogue make for fascinating reading. The author writes tightly; there are no surplus lines. He is a master at drawing the reader into a world where the ordinary meets the extraordinary, right up to the ending where the central dilemma is addressed in a way that will surprise most.​

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[Guest review by Idwal Daniels]

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Reviews of Second Edition

Reviews  of the second edition, published in 2025, can be seen around the internet, in places such as Goodreads , Amazon and Waterstones. These two I have chosen, like the one above of the first edition, because they take interestingly different perspectives [including different from each other]:

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One History or More?

[Dr Petru Iamandi, on Goodreads]

     It so happened that, before starting to read Tom East’s novel, I saw 37 Days, a British three-part TV series that covers the 37 days before WW I, from the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria (28 June 1914) to the UK declaring war on Germany (4 August 1914). A strange coincidence if you look at the period of time and the subject both the book and the series deal with. Nevertheless, the coincidence stops there.

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     While the series reveals the behind-closed-doors story of the final,
tense, weeks of peace and seeks to ‘quash assumptions about the war’s 'inevitability', the book focuses on the ‘most important month’ in the life of Tommy Green and seeks to prove the contrary. Tommy is a bachelor in his late twenties, a calligrapher and engraver by profession, very much în love with the belle of his village.

 

     A village where, obviously, everyone knows everyone else, with its own ‘upper class and lower class’ that co-exist more or less harmoniously, with nothing in sight that might disrupt its tranquility and equilibrium, unlike what’s happening in the high political circles, where the decisions that are going to turn the world upside down are being made. Those at the top deciding the fate of those at the bottom. Is there any way ordinary people could prevent wars?

 

     The reality of the past two world wars and the current state of international affairs (see the implications of the war between Russia and Ukraine) say no. And yet, Tommy, the protagonist of this strange novel, gives it a try. Why strange? Because up to a point it reads like a
mainstream novel: the author is very much concerned with style and characterization, his language is complex, and that restrains the pace. The pace quickens, though, when he introduces a counterfactual element: the ‘elasticity of time’, a discovery of the futurethat can be used to go back in time and change history. Hence more events, higher stakes, and dangerous situations. But can history be changed or does it take care of itself? Tommy
(the generic term for any British soldier) is the one meant to find the answer.

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Two Bo0ks?

[JW on Amazon]

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     Reading Tommy’s War: July 1914, I felt I was engaging with two books. There is the description of pre-WWI life in an English village where an almost supernatural story is being played out, and a darkly mysterious tale at its heart.

     I really enjoyed this book and found it to be a compelling page turner. The author clearly put a lot of research effort into Greenford of the period. As a former resident in my youth after WWII, I found myself trying to track the locations mentioned but my memory was not up to the challenge.

     That said, the description of the 1914 location was excellent and created a mind picture for me, albeit a fictional one. My impression of the 1914 Greenford was of a parochial and stuffy village. This is understandable: I don’t suppose there was much mobility amongst the lower classes.
The stultifying social norms of the time would be suffocating to a modern populace. The author captures this very well, as indeed he draws a convincing picture of the bafflement of early Twentieth Century man at the ways of those who live in the mid Twenty-first.

     The essential story is one of an attempt by a technically advanced age to avert the horrors of the First World War and its aftermath. There is much human emotion and intrigue bringing the narrative to life. This ends with two of Tommy’s main supporting characters following him from Greenford to Paris, where the final drama is played out in a wholly surprising way.

     I recommend this book for a relaxing flight of fancy with a helping of historical reality. Just the read to pass those tedious journeys where you just want to relax.

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Family History Magazine Q & A

Tommy's War: July 1914

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