Private Peaceful by Michael Morpurgo.
Private Peaceful (2003) is a deeply moving novel about two brothers, Tommo and Charlie Peaceful, and the First World War. It is told as a single overnight vigil — Tommo is waiting out his last night before dawn, and the reader gradually understands why. It is one of Morpurgo's most powerful and emotionally demanding novels.
The novel alternates between Tommo's memories of his childhood in rural Devon — growing up poor but loved, his early relationship with Molly, his devotion to his brother Charlie — and the brutal reality of the Western Front, where both brothers serve as soldiers.
Charlie is bold, protective and unwilling to submit to authority. Tommo worships him. They both love Molly. Charlie and Molly eventually marry; Tommo accepts this with a generosity that reveals the depth of his love for both of them.
The two brothers experience the full horror of trench warfare: mud, fear, the deaths of comrades, and the impossible demands of commanding officers. When a cowardly officer orders a suicidal attack, Charlie refuses and is court-martialled for cowardice.
Charlie is executed by firing squad at dawn. The novel reveals on the final pages that Tommo has been waiting through the night of his brother's execution. It is one of the most devastating endings in British children's fiction. Morpurgo based the novel on the real history of soldiers shot for 'cowardice' in WWI — many of whom were later pardoned posthumously.
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