After Dunkirk - by Milena McGraw (Paperback)

About the Book

At the threshold of World War II, Wayne Luthie leads the Wonders, an inexperienced British flight squadron playing at war form a safe distance. But soon the fighting draws near. Grace Paley hailed as memorable and remarkable this extraordinary debut novel, resonant with the passion and themes of The English Patient and Saving Private Ryan.

Book Synopsis

At the threshold of World War II, Wayne Luthie leads the Wonders, an inexperienced British flight squadron playing at war form a safe distance. But soon the fighting draws near. Grace Paley hailed as "memorable and remarkable" this extraordinary debut novel, resonant with the passion and themes of The English Patient and Saving Private Ryan.

Review Quotes

"After Dunkirk is everything one hopes a book will be - powerful and beautiful in its construction, thoughtful in its intent, unforgettable in its effect. Milena McGraw's subject is war, the consequence of war - what it does to young men, old men, and women, its insidious as well as its overt wounding, its inescapable blight. Luthie, leader of a squadron of young men - boys, really - who daily fly their Spitfires into the English skies, says, helplessly: I am a just man in a just war. It matters not at all. It matters not at all that Luthie is also young, able, valiant, and well trained, or that he has met a woman and fallen in love and - like any ordinary man - dreams of reaching the farthest and best possibilities of their life together. With prose that is at times almost unbearably lyrical, that is dismal with grief and splendid with perseverance, the author draws us into this book as into another living body. Luthie and his story are, simply, unforgettable. After Dunkirk is one of the most moving books I have ever read." -- Mary Oliver, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award