Death of a Soldier
The Great War of 1914-18 made deeper wounds in Belgium than the Second World War. Memorials, exhibitions, and books keep the memory of this traumatic period alive. It is no surprise then that Johanna Spaey writes about that war and its aftermath. Her own grandfather fought in the mud of the trenches.
Death of a Soldier takes place in 1919. Together with the local detective, country doctor Sara Sondervorst inspects the death of a war veteran who was found in a field with his skull bashed in. The story is about postwar Belgium, about the return of the messed-up men who survived the hell of the trenches, about collaboration with the German occupying forces. And it is about the relationship between Sara and her beloved officer who returns to the village severely maimed.
