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Cover of Shoulder the Sky

Historical Fiction · 2005 · PG-13

Shoulder the Sky

by Anne Perry

An army chaplain in the Ypres Salient, 1915 — and a murder that must be solved even at the front

In the firmament of great historical novelists, Anne Perry is a star of the greatest magnitude. First there were her acclaimed Victorian mysteries, sparkling with passion and suspense. Now readers have embraced this bestselling new series of World War I novels–which juxtapose the tranquil life of the English countryside with the horrors of war. By April of 1915, as chaplain Joseph Reavley tends to the soldiers in his care, the nightmare of trench warfare is impartially cutting down England’s youth. On one of his rescue forays into no-man’s-land, Joseph finds the body of an arrogant war corresp

For14+GenreHistorical FictionLength360 pagesRead time~9.5 hours

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Content snapshot

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What's in this book, at a glance — five things readers want to know before they start.

Violence

Some

WWI trench warfare depicted with moderate emotional intensity; murder investigation at the front

Language

Barely any

Mild language with some soldier speech

Sexual Content

Barely any

No significant sexual content

Substance Use

Some

Soldiers drinking; shell-shock and trauma referenced

Emotional Intensity

A lot

Strong psychological intensity; the moral injury of industrial warfare; grief and faith tested under fire

What this book is about

Joseph Reavley serves as an army chaplain in the blood-soaked trenches of the Ypres Salient in 1915. When a journalist visiting the front is found dead, Joseph must investigate a murder even as the war's industrial killing machine grinds on around him. The second Reavley novel immerses readers in the physical and spiritual devastation of the Western Front while weaving in the spy-thriller conspiracy that runs through the series.

Notes for sensitive readers

Reader-flagged moments and themes that may affect your experience.

World War I trench warfare

Murder at the front

Spiritual and psychological trauma

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