Arena

For me this was a book of two halves, the first half was quite dull and I found the war parts boring although it was an interesting angle to look at conscientious objectors and their reasons for not wanting to go to war. Howard was a clever and principled hero. The second half after Vivian's disastrous mistake resulting in a rushed loveless marriage and being relegated to a country life became more enjoyable. She became a much more independent and accomplished woman once she donned her first pair of trousers to take on some useful farm work. There are much better books around portraying WW1 than this, I think. For me an average 5 star read.