Demure Sarah, Divine Angel: A novel of the 1915 Battles of Hill 60 & Loos in WW1: Part 2. of the trilogy 'The Foster Family in the Great War'

In ' Demure Sarah, Divine Angel' (a headstone engraving) - Part 2. of the trilogy 'The Foster Family in the Great War' , the story follows on from Part 1. the 1914 period novel “DEAR HUSBAND – MISSING YOU” and is set in 1915 as war settles down to a trench stalemate.
Private Billy Townshend has taken a terrible revenge on his wife’s lover John Cappavani but heartbreakingly writes to her in the mental hospital where she resides with horrific disfigurements.
Nurse Lucy Lawson tries to find a wounded cavalry officer – the mysterious Oliver Mettle - whilst rekindling an acquaintance with RAMC doctor Adam Masters. Newcomer V.A.D. nursing auxiliary Susie Tallboy endures a belittling attitude from Nurse Olivia Standing but is greatly appreciated for her sympathetic talents in the handling of badly wounded and sometimes dying soldiers.
Matron Mary McHale meets an old lover & deals out a swift justice.
Private Clifford Foster rejoins the Kings Own Yorkshire Light Infantry after punishment for being absent without leave and gives a lesson in gutter fighting to a bullying bayonet instructor at the notorious ‘Bullring’ at Etaples. Clem Foster rejoices in the birth of a daughter but after he attends a funeral with Billy Townshend, they end have to deal firmly with the Cappavani family seeking revenge for a brother’s disappearance. Artilleryman Albert Foster meets up with a horse from the battle at Nery who has a new master. Sam Tooms takes lessons from a legend of big game hunting & aspires to become a sniper.
Renegade Gordon Highlander Hamish Eadie embarks on a dangerous mission taking despatches in battle and meets up with acquaintances from the Farm Fight in 1914. Grieving mother Estelle Grace receives a closure to her sons’ whereabouts. Clem Foster goes home for Christmas meeting up with Ridley Judde back from Gallipoli & they sum up the year’s unequal balance of triumphs & failures.

These personal events are set against a background of savage Western Front warfare. The inconclusive fights for patches of desolate territory reap terrible harvests of blood in the battles of Hill 60 at Ypres and Loos. The men of the K.O.Y.L.I. , 2nd Duke of Wellington’s, the Gordon Highlanders and the Royal Horse Artillery fight bullets, shellfire and poison gas as well as the continual misery of rats, lice, rain and the boredom of the trenches enlivened only by shellfire or the odd sniper’s bullet.

The reader may now wish to take a sideways look at other 1915 events happening in Gallipoli in the stand-alone title “DEAR SON, STAY SAFE” whilst the main characters’ stories will continue into 1916 and the preparations for the Somme battles with Part 3. of the trilogy “DEAR BROTHER, DON’T VOLUNTEER”.
For continuity, this trilogy is best read in order

(Please note: this trilogy previously formed part of the 'Franklin & Friends in WW1' series)



Cover painting “The Taking of Neuve Chapelle” by Jean Jacques Berne Bellacour (1874-1939) by kind permission of the National Army Museum .