The Birdcage

by Clive Aslet

The city of Salonika in the First World War: a kaleidoscope of nationalities, cultures and political ambitions, shifting and re-forming around a richly-varied group of English men and women, who have been blown here by many different winds: young nurses from a Women’s hospital; seasoned soldiers, pulled back from Gallipoli; a young art student – talented but uncouth – who is surprised into love of Elsie, a doughty young nurse; Isabel, the slightly ageing beauty of the Surrey Hills, who finds she is not immune to the glamour of a Serbian officer with nothing to lose and little to offer; ‘Simple’ Simon, who pursues spying and antiquarian studies with equal enthusiasm; the Kite Balloonists, who must trade off any ideas of chivalry towards the enemy against the need to survive in a world so foreign to them.

This city more than half-Jewish, which – until a few months ago – was one of the jewels of the Ottoman crown, is now suddenly Greek. Nominally neutral, it teems with French, British and Serbian armies. A city brimming with intrigue, where café society pursues its way unperturbed, within earshot of the fighting, it is the Casablanca of WWI.
It’s a breathless ride - eccentric, comic, moving, enthralling. Welcome aboard...

320 pages, Paperback

First published July 10, 2014

Reviews

[Tony Stacey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Worth a read on all sorts of levels. It's a series of romances, an espionage thriller and a war story based in the utterly neglected Balkan Campaign in and around Salonika.
Well done Clive Aslet

[Amie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very enjoyable read. The writing style really brought the buildings to life. Salonica was easy to visualise; dirty and rotten. Even the flies were described fittingly. I did find myself rooting for the characters, so they were really 3 dimensional. The writing style was witty too, I chuckled often, it reminded me of a Waugh novel, sharp and very humorous.

[Anne Goodwin · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first novel from a prolific author of non-fiction on architecture, style, the countryside and the British way of life, has the irony, wit and panache of (although I wouldn’t stake my life on it, not having read them for many years) of Joseph Heller, Evelyn Waugh and Jerome K Jerome. While it didn’t make me laugh, it raised a smile on many a page, which is definitely an achievement. A fun book that doesn’t deny the horrors, but chooses to shine its light in a different direction, reminding us that wars are fought by the young, and the young will always welcome love and adventure.
Full review The Birdcage by Clive Aslet http://annegoodwin.weebly.com/1/post/...