by SouthernCrossfire
Well. You just had to go and do that, huh? Thanks for the emotional upheaval that began my day. 5*.
Fantastic and sad, but in the right story telling way. 5 stars, and I have been meaning to read your WW1 works, I’ll try and stop being so slack!
I'd have to write a letter to tell you all the ways this is truly wonderful!
I have a digital "5*" stamp for your stories now - LOL! As a veteran who used to have "mail call" as the highlight to my day, there was one part of the letters that was not historically correct (at least from "our" view). Early in the letter our hero was writing about the horrible combat conditions and risks they were facing. We never would have written about those as it would only make our loved ones worry all the more. Otherwise, a beautiful tribute to the veterans who fight for freedom and the anxiety their loved one's experience awaiting their return. 5*
Amazing. Excellent use of [parentheses], spots, and military vocabulary.
As a historian I have delved more into the Middle Ages but also World War I and I confirm that you were very accurate.
As a dumb reader, I would have preferred a clear differentiation in the last part (after... "tomorrow"). Two different men have to write not only with different handwriting, but more importantly with different vocabulary, rhythm, pace and hesitation.
Let's understand: this is already very good. My taste would have appreciated it more if the ending had been written in a much rougher, detached and sad way, with a different dialect (Scottish for example?), its own exclamations and interjections, and (if I may say) less understanding of her feelings.
Good period piece. Sometimes these stories don't leave us alone until they are written.... 5*
I read this a couple of weeks ago, then again today. I've been following the war in Ukraine and though today we have the uncomfortable directness of news media, I am sure these letters are still being written - on both sides. With so many lives lost and families torn apart over so many, many years, you'd think we'd learn. Little glimmers of light like this give us hope in dark times. TY
Heartbreaking. And the war to end all wars didn't. Now the orcs are trying to kill all Ukrainians and destroy their homes. Kaiser, Czar, despot—they never stop until their acts are thwarted.