William—An Englishman

William Tully is a young London socialist and pacifist, full of confident theories about the coming brotherhood of nations, when he and his new wife honeymoon in the Belgian countryside in the summer of 1914. They notice nothing until the German army is upon them, and the war William was certain could never happen tears his small certainties apart. Cicely Hamilton traces his passage from smug idealism through raw patriotism to something quieter and more broken, refusing easy comfort at every turn. Published in 1919 and awarded the Prix Femina, the novel draws on Hamilton’s own service near the front and stands among the sharpest fictional reckonings with the First World War. This free PDF and EPUB edition includes the complete novel.