Amid the Splintered Trees by Heather McBriarty

A Throwback Thursday Review by Jerry Iwanus

For varied reasons, I loved reading this book. In fact, I read it again so that I could review it and enjoyed it just as much the second time, with tears welling up at the end with each reading.

What made it even more interesting for me personally was that I was by coincidence in Halifax when I first read it and was within a stone’s throw of so many of the places referenced in the book. Any time my eyes strayed from the pages, I was able to look up and see the Halifax harbour in all its historic splendour and think that this was the same view that the novel’s characters would have had at different points of the story.

There has always been something about the Great War that affects me emotionally in a way that the Second World War does not – I’m not sure what it is, but I do know that reading this rich, descriptive, and extremely well-researched book has reinforced those feelings for all time. It is a labour of love, respect, and honour that I feel privileged for the author to have shared with me. For better or for worse, I now know exactly what life was like in the trenches, how the different personality types interacted in pursuit of a common cause, and just how sickening the sights and smells would have been. I also get a powerful sense of what living through the Halifax explosion of 1917 would have been like.

The level of detailed research that Ms. McBriarty undertook about both the War and the devastating Halifax Explosion produce such vivid imagery and insight into how people who were part of those events may well have experienced them, both physically and emotionally. Her use of language is exceptional in terms of both rich vocabulary, with words like “fusty”, “fug”, and “clop”, and evocative turn of phrase, such as “their blood soaking the thirsty earth” and “broken trunks of trees stretched dead fingers”. The list is a long one in each case.

The character development is also very strong. One has no doubt about the kind of people that Will and Emma are and, when each makes certain decisions throughout the plot progression, the reader finds these to be completely believable relative to what we understand the personality of each to be. Throughout the first part of the book, Will presents as almost too perfect, almost Quixotic, but this is juxtaposed very adroitly with Will’s very believable trauma-based responses to people and events upon his return home. Overall, one gets a picture of a fundamentally kind and decent but flawed human being to whom the reader can relate on several levels. The same is true for Emma in her difficult quest to be taken seriously in her pursuit of a medical degree.

I could go on with effusive praise.

I’d recommend this book to anyone who finds any aspect of the Great War fascinating or who simply loves a deep and compelling story of struggle and redemption. Don’t be surprised if you read it twice.

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About the Author

Heather McBriarty is an author, lecturer and Medical Radiation Technologist based in Saint John, NB. Her love of reading and books began early in life, as did her love of writing, but the discovery of old family correspondence led to her first non-fiction book, Somewhere in Flanders: Letters from the Front, and a passion for the First World War. She has delivered lectures to the Royal Nova Scotia Historical Society, NB Genealogy Society, and Western Front Association (Central Ontario Branch), among others, on the war. Heather’s first novel of the “Great War”, Amid the Splintered Trees, was launched in November 2021. Heather is also a co-admin of The Seaboard Review.

Book Details

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Crow Mountain Publishing (Aug. 9 2021)

• Language ‏ : ‎ English

• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 335 pages

• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1999265033

• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1999265038