The Soldier's Art continues Nick Jenkin's Dance through the war. The tone is immediately more intense, as he finds himself in thrall to a man he dislikes in a post which is without interest and without prospects. The war is not going well, for Britain or for him personally, yet the novel never drags, is never despairing.
However, there is a passage of pure horror, on leave back in London, when two of Nick's relations are killed on the same night in separate events. Nick learns of the first of them from a cabaret performer, who has just returned from performing at a nightclub, the Madrid. The events are invested with an extreme poignancy by the connection with the nightclub and it's tawdry glamour, and the fact there has been no preparation in Nick's mind that anything unusual has happened. The whole passgae is too long to quote, but believe me, it takes some skill to write that lightly and impose such weight: eventually Max Pilgrim (the singer, portrayed by Marc below) says "It was Bijou's last party" and the reality sinks in.
There are also wonderful views of the many different types of soldiers, many of whom I recognise from having worked with the Army in Kabul, including a hilarious discussion mid exercise between Nick and his Divisional Commander on the merits of Trollope. And there is a final despairing moment of pathos at the end when Nick, having been told about the suicide of a fellow officer, is asked:
"What do you think of the news?"
"Well, it's rather awful, sir. Biggs was in my Mess - "
"Oh, I don't mean Biggs", he said. "Haven't you seen a paper or heard the wireless this morning? Germany's invaded Russia."
An immediate, overpowering, almost mystic sense of relief took shape within me. I felt suddenly sure everything was going to be all right. This was something quite apart from even the most cursory reflection upon strategic implications involved.
It were premature to say that he was right, yet the mood lifts a fraction with this news, on the last page of Soldier's Art, preparing us perfectly for the final instalment of the war.
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