Somewhere in France

by Richard Harding Davis

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138 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1915

About the author

Richard Harding Davis (1864–1916) was a journalist and writer of fiction and drama, known foremost as the first American war correspondent to cover the Spanish-American War, the Second Boer War, and the First World War. His writing greatly assisted the political career of Theodore Roosevelt and he also played a major role in the evolution of the American magazine. His influence extended to the world of fashion and he is credited with making the clean-shaven look popular among men at the turn of the 20th century.

Reviews

[Debbie Zapata]

Richard Harding Davis is yet another author I never heard of until I discovered him at Gutenberg. And I did not know a thing about him until after I finished reading this collection of six stories and became curious. Turns out he was a war correspondent in three different conflicts: the Spanish-American War, the Boer War, and WWI. According to Wiki, he helped create the legend of Teddy's Roosevelt's Rough Riders (he and TR were good friends). Do you remember the Gibson Girl? Davis was the model for the Gibson Man, and actually helped make the cleanly shaved look popular. Imagine that!

But could he write? And how were these stories? Well, I really liked three of them, two others were okay, and I just skimmed one. The title story told about a woman who was a spy for the Germans in WWI. She was ordered to Paris for some very high level work, but somehow things changed when she least expected it. This was the best of the six stories; crisp and quick, with a woman you love to hate and a man at the end that you have to love just because.

Another good one was The Boy Scout. Our young hero Jimmie is going camping for the weekend with his Scout troop, and he decides that for his 'good deed of the day', he will give his little sister a dime to go see the movies, and then he will walk the last five miles to the campground instead of riding the train all the way. But while he is trudging along in the heat, wishing he had not done his good deed after all, he is given a ride by a young man in a fancy car and they talk for a bit, then Jimmie's conscience begins to bother him. The Scout rules say the good deed of the day must involve personal sacrifice, and here he is riding in a car when he meant to walk the whole five miles! So he explains to the driver, gets out, and continues trudging. But what Jimmie doesn't realize is how many lives he has just changed, simply by telling the driver of the car about his principles. Because after some deep thought, the driver goes back to New York and does his own good deed, which triggers another and another. Imagine Pay It Forward, but without the tears at the end.

The other clever stories were Playing Dead, The Card-Sharp, and Billy And The Big Stick. I couldn't get too interested in the final story, The Frame-Up....I just skimmed it.

One thing in these other stories that was not in The Boy Scout or Somewhere In France, was some very odd sentence structure at times. Here is an example from Playing Dead: He felt that if already his identity was questioned, than hiding in his room and growing a beard nothing could be more suspicious. Anytime I came across such a sentence I had to stop, say 'What?' and read it again very carefully. I cannot imagine how Davis could allow himself to phrase his thoughts that way so often, and I am very curious if he does the same in his novels or in his dispatches from the war zones he visited. Luckily, Gutenberg has many titles by Davis, so Someday I will find out.

[Mbuye]

Mostly known as a war correspondent, Davis had a wide repertoire of war stories, romantic (yes!) novels, espionage, humour and adventure fiction. In some ways, he was the America’s answer to John Buchan, with the same rivetting style and exciting plot lines.

The six stories here are a great example of a good short story - filled with suspense, with an unexpected twist in the end, with humour, a load of compassion and at times really heartwarming. In other words, a bit of something for everybody. ‘Somewhere in France,’ the title of the first story in the collection, deals with espionage during the first World war, when the German army was retreating from Paris. ‘Billy and the Big Stick,’ set in Haiti, is my favourite, a marvellous comedy worthy of O. Henry. Each of the others is as unlike the others, so a veritable feast awaits the reader, whether or not he is familiar with the writer.

[Susan]

1 . Somewhere in France - The story of a German female spy and revenge.
2. Playing Dead - Jimmie Blagwin believes it is best for his wife if he fakes his death. But does it really solve the problem,
3. The card-sharp - what is his real identity.
4. Billy and the Big Stick - Can Billy Barlow of the Wilmot Electric Lights outwit President Ham of Hayti.
5 - The Boy Scout - Jimmie Reader's one good turn has a ripple effect - really liked this story.
6 - The Frame-up - Is the D.A. honest or will hush-up a crime by his brother-in-law.
A group of enjoyable stories.

[Tina Billings]

My daughter bought me a copy of this book for Christmas, I believe it's original print not a reprint. In beautiful condition considering it's 100+ yr age.

I thoroughly enjoyed the short stories. They all had a turn of fate type story. The one I enjoyed the most was the "boy scout" amazing how one good deed done by a child can trickle down and affect many.

I highly recommend this book, even if you can only read a digital copy.

[David]

Short book about a German spy passing as a French nurse along with her companion and driver. Oops.