Author:Richard Aldington

One of the great World War I antiwar novels - honest, chilling, and brilliantly satirical
Based on the author's experiences on the Western Front, Richard Aldington's first novel, Death of a Hero, finally joins the ranks of Penguin Classics. Our hero is George Winterbourne, who enlists in the British Expeditionary Army during the Great War and gets sent to France. After a rash of casualties leads to his promotion through the ranks, he grows increasingly cynical about the war and disillusioned by the hypocrisies of British society. Aldington's writing about Britain's ignorance of the tribulations of its soldiers is among the most biting ever published. Death of a Hero vividly evokes the morally degrading nature of combat as it rushes toward its astounding finish.
About the author:
Richard Aldington (1892-1962) was known as a translator, critic, biographer, and poet of distinction. He joined the British Army in 1916 and was wounded in 1918.
This book is rich and deep, mesmerizing and spectacular. At times I felt it opened a portal onto something grand and profound about love and blood and the ties that bind. Read it and you will feel what great literature can do: you will feel you are more vividly alive
—— Anna FunderGhana Must Go is both a fast moving story of one family's fortunes and an ecstatic exploration of the inner lives of its members. With her perfectly-pitched prose and flawless technique, Selasi does more than merely renew our sense of the African novel: she renews our sense of the novel, period. An astonishing debut
—— Teju Cole, author of , Open CityAn eye for the perfect detail . . . an unforgettable voice on the page . . . miss out on Ghana Must Go and you will miss one of the best new novels of the season
—— The EconomistTaiye Selasi is the woman the literary world is drooling over . . . [Ghana Must Go] is technically ambitious, poetically dense . . . an unpredictable family story of love, abandonment, aspiration and migration
—— Claire Allfree , MetroTaiye Selasi writes with glittering poetic command, a sense of daring, and a deep emotional investment in the lives and transformations of her characters . . . a powerful portrait of a broken family
—— Diana Evans , GuardianA most impressive first novel. . . She manages a generous coverage of time and space with adroit concision, along with a vibrant range of characters. The family is so convincing, with those telling problems of divided culture. Very much a novel of today
—— Penelope LivelyTaiye Selasi is a young writer of staggering gifts and extraordinary sensitivity. Ghana Must Go seems to contain the entire world, and I shall never forget it
—— Elizabeth Gilbert, author of , Eat, Pray, LoveWith mesmerizing craftsmanship and massive imagination [Taiye Selasi] takes the reader on an unforgettable journey across continents and most importantly deeply into the lives of the people whom she writes about. She de-"exoticizes" whole populations and demographics and brings them firmly into the readers view as complicated and complex human beings. Ghana Must Go is a big novel, elemental, meditative, and mesmerizing
—— Sapphire, author of , The Kid and PushIn Ghana Must Go, Selasi drives the six characters skillfully through past and present, unearthing old betrayals and unexplained grievances at a delicious pace. By the time the surviving five convene at a funeral in Ghana, we are invested in their reconciliation--which is both realistically shaky and dramatically satisfying ... Narrative gold
—— ElleSelasi's ambition - to show her readers not "Africa" but one African family, authors of their own achievements and failures - is one that can be applauded no matter what accent you give the word
—— Nell Freudenberger , The New York TimesThe first line of Taiye Selasi's buoyant first novel, Ghana Must Go, captures the book in miniature: "Kweku dies barefoot on a Sunday before sunrise, his slippers by the doorway to the bedroom like dogs." The springy dactylic meter of the prose (KWEku dies BAREfoot on a . . .), the sly internal rhymes (Sunday, sunrise, doorway), the surprising twist on a cliché (to die like a dog), the invigorating mixture of darkness and drollery are a big part of what makes this book such a joy... It's an auspicious how-do-you-do to the world, and nearly every page of the novel displays the same bounce and animation... rapturous.
—— Wall Street JournalRooney is a novelist at home with life’s ambiguities, her plotting pleasingly intricate, her narrative richly textured
—— Lucy Beresford , Sunday Telegraph (Seven)A captivating read
—— ChoiceAn exciting and intelligent novel... Rooney's re-creation of the politics of the day is brilliant
—— Kate Saunders , The TimesParticulary acute on the muddle of emotion, reason and morality that festers around betrayal...compelling, impressively detailed story, with thrillerish overtones...
—— Elizabeth Buchan , The Sunday TimesA wonderfully plotted spy drama full of intrigue and suspense… A fantastic read
—— UK Regional Press SyndicationExtremely readable
—— Mark Perryman , Hufffington PostA brilliant spy novel, with an unlikely culprit and a deft, involving plot... Tense, beautifully pitched and very moving
—— Marie Claire[A] polished, intricate novel… rich in moral ambiguity
—— Sunday TelegraphThis powerfully-written spy thriller is compulsive reading
—— Falkirk HeraldA gripping spy novel with an unlikely culprit and a thoroughly researched basis in fact... Perfect for fans of William Boyd's Restless
—— Absolutely ChelseaIntelligent and elegantly written ... a fitting tribute, inventing a love story all of its own
—— Wall Street JournalPowerful...an especially appealing, and timely, reworking of the classic. Baker’s novel goes beyond escapist fantasy, drawing subtle comparisons between past and present
—— New YorkerA fresh and engrossing story from below the stairs of Pride and Prejudice
—— Woman and HomeA novel that turns upside down the expectations of the genre—and goes to war with a century of American triumphalism, a century of regeneration through violence, a century of senseless slaughter.
—— John Plotz , Guardian