Four short stories about families touched by World War I are included in this book. Each of the stories takes place within a single scenario, and they are all so well written. These really do seem to be miniature works of art. The first one involved an elderly woman who is alone and "adopts" a man who is going to go to war on impulse. The second concerns a father's connection with his son who is joining the military as an officer. In the third tale, a dementia-stricken old man tries to make sense of the changes taking place all around him. The final story concerns a father and son who are attempting to move on after the son's passing. The interactions between fathers and sons are a fascinating motif in these tales. The society in which this piece was created did not value father-son relationships. Wonderfully poignant little book from 1918 that tells four stories about common households during the Great War.
Scottish author Sir James Matthew Barrie, 1st Baronet, is most known for creating Peter Pan. He was also a playwright. He was raised and educated in Scotland before relocating to London, where he penned a number of well-received books and plays. There, he met the Llewelyn Davies brothers, who later served as the inspiration for his works Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up, a 1904 West End "fairy play," about an ageless boy and an ordinary girl named Wendy who have adventures in the fantasy setting of Neverland. The story of a baby boy who has magical adventures in Kensington Gardens was first included in Barrie's 1902 adult novel The Little White Bird. Despite his ongoing success as a writer, Peter Pan eclipsed all of his earlier works and is credited with making the name Wendy well-known. After the deaths of the Davies boys' parents, Barrie adopted them clandestinely. George V created Barrie a baronet on June 14, 1913, and in the New Year's Honours of 1922, he was inducted into the Order of Merit.
