This is truly one of my absolute favourite books. Robert Ross is such a gentle, sensitive soul, not meant for the trenches he finds himself in.

There are so many lines in this novel that are so moving. I think about them constantly.

Reflection on death during times of war, a character reminds us that we are all just creatures who came up from the ocean, and so we shall return as they throw the body off the side of the ship: Everyone who’s born has come from the sea. Your mother’s womb is just a sea in small. And birds come of seas on eggs. Horses lie in the sea before they’re born. The placenta is the sea. Your blood is the sea continued in your veins. We are the ocean — walking on the land.

Or of Clive, who was asked what he thought of the war now: Someone once said to Clive: do you think we will ever be forgiven for what we’ve done? They meant their generation and the war and what the war had done to civilization. Clive said something I’ve never forgotten. He said: I doubt we will ever be forgiven. All I hope is – they'll remember we were human beings.

Or on young love and loss: He said that in a way being loved is like being told you never have to die. And I said: Yes — but it doesn’t save you, does it. And he said: No — but it saves your sanity.

I often come back to this book to re read my favourite passages such as these.