The Battle of Messines Road

by J.K. Moloney

Messines Road is a coming-of-age story, a World War I diary and a novel about friendship and families. It is a book of how two wars, 50 years apart, changed New Zealand and its people.

348 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2015

Reviews

[Patrick McHugh · Rating 4 out of 5]

The difference in language between a 10 year old boy in 1968, and the beautiful and poetic hand of the WWI war diary were a clever contrast. I often find that in novels where story lines run concurrently, that I favour one story significantly over the other. This never occurred during this book, and this is to the credit of the author - keeping the story as told by Zac in a more punchy and contemporary feel (as told in 1968), and ensuring that the sometimes tougher prose of the diary was kept to a certain length when required. A really well crafted read.

[Stuart Mcgrigor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having been an Evening Post paper boy myself in the 70s/80s this one appealed to me for both the modern story as well as the War Diary.