Theory of War by Joan Brady

Theory of War

by Joan Brady

Andre Deutsch, 1994, [First Edition], hardcover, dustjacket, ISBN 0233988106

As New Condition, shelf-wear to edges of dustjacket

'This searing tale is fueled by hatred, a hatred born of thoughtless cruelties - and of cruelties carefully thought out, as well.  The boy, Jonathan (the narrator's grandfather), is beaten, tethered, starved.  For him life is no less than war against a brutish master and the master's jealous and brilliant son.  It is a war waged largely in his mind, for Jonathan can expect no help from the nearby townsfolk; who are horrified by what goes on but unwilling to intervene.  At the heart of the book is the relentless rivalry between the boys, a rivalry that lasts into adulthood and ends, inevitably, in murder.  But the most powerful and lasting impression the book leaves is of the crimes visited on later generations.'