Tatterdemalion

John Galsworthy assembled these stories in 1920 and split the book into two halves, one of war-time and one of peace-time. The war pieces trace the strain of the First World War across British society, from soldiers and recruits to the mothers, refugees, and ordinary civilians left to absorb its shock. Stories such as “The Grey Angel,” “Defeat,” and “A Green Hill Far Away” sit beside quieter peacetime sketches like “Spindleberries” and “The Nightmare Child.” Galsworthy writes with the moral attention that runs through his larger novels, watching how private feeling bends under public catastrophe. For readers who know him mainly through The Forsyte Saga, this collection shows his reach in short form and offers a searching, humane record of a country still counting the cost of the war.