Private Angelo (Canongate Classics): 9 (Canongate Classics, 13)

New
Paperback
2008
$14.44

Angelo, a private in Mussolini's 'ever-glorious' Italian army, may possess the virtues of love and an engaging innocence but he lacks the gift of courage. However, due to circumstances beyond his control, he ends up fighting not only for Italy but also for the British and German armies. With his patron the Count, the beautiful Lucrezia, the charming Annunziata, and the delightful Major Telfer, Angelo's fellow characters are drawn with humour, insight and sympathy, making the book a wittily satirical comment on the grossness and waste of war. Eric Linklater, who served with the Black Watch in Italy in World War II, is one of Scotland's most distinguished writers. In Private Angelo he has written a book which demonstrates that honour is not solely the preserve of the brave.

Synopsis

Angelo, a private in Mussolini's 'ever-glorious' Italian army, may possess the virtues of love and an engaging innocence but he lacks the gift of courage. However, due to circumstances beyond his control, he ends up fighting not only for Italy but also for the British and German armies. With his patron the Count, the beautiful Lucrezia, the charming Annunziata, and the delightful Major Telfer, Angelo's fellow characters are drawn with humour, insight and sympathy, making the book a wittily satirical comment on the grossness and waste of war. Eric Linklater, who served with the Black Watch in Italy in World War II, is one of Scotland's most distinguished writers. In Private Angelo he has written a book which demonstrates that honour is not solely the preserve of the brave.

$14.44

Save:$0.81 (5%)

Quantity

20+ in stock

More Information

Format: Paperback
Pages: 262
Edition: New Ed
Publisher: Canongate Books Ltd
Published: 23 Jun 2008
ISBN 10: 0862413761
ISBN 13: 9780862413767
Book Overview: A wittily satirical comment on the grossness and waste of war

Media Reviews

He writes not only of an angel, but like one . . . Private Angelo is now a permanent portrait in the heavenly gallery of human frailty. Observer
The drollest medley of muddle and misadventure . . . A quite unforgettable group of people take part, none of whom lacks the genuine Linklater stamp . . . A high-spirited entertainment which never loses its individual air. Sunday Times

Author Bio

Eric Linklater (1899-1974) was born in Wales and educated in Aberdeen. His family came from the Orkney Islands (his father was a master mariner), and the boy spent much of his childhood there. Linklater served as a private in the Black Watch at the close of WWI, surviving a nearly fatal head wound to return to Aberdeen to take a degree in English. A spell in Bombay with the Times of India was followed by some university teaching in Aberdeen again, and then a Commonwealth Fellowship which allowed him to travel in America from 1928 to 1930.