The Fires of Gallipoli explores resilience, self-discovery, fortitude and friendship during, and in the aftermath, of the Gallipoli Campaign. This book follows Edward Salter, a shy 25-year-old solicitor whose life is changed by the outbreak of the First World War and his unexpected friendship with the charming Theodore Thorne.
Malta, 1915. On his way to fight in the Gallipoli Campaign, Edward is introduced to Thorne, whose charisma quickly dispels any awkwardness and facilitates the beginnings of the most significant friendship of Edward’s life. Readers follow their harrowing journey on the Peninsula, their brief shared leave from the frontline where Edward becomes enamoured with Thorne’s sister Miranda, and the consequences of Edward’s promotion to the relative safety of the War Office as a member of Lord Kitchener’s staff whilst Thorne returns to the frontlines.
It is clear that Campbell has used his own military experiences to imbue this novel with hauntingly accurate descriptions of the sights, sounds, scents and sentiments of wartime life. This novel is filled with visceral and evocative details that make readers feel as though they are side by side with Edward, Thorne and the rest of their unit in the trenches and heading into battle. It shows the importance of unity of purpose, camaraderie, and the ways men let off steam. The Fires of Gallipoli reflects the variety of coping mechanisms and superstitions that troops had, and the way that an individual can become a talisman or boost morale: this is particularly evidenced with Baffle’s character and their visit by Lord Kitchener.
This novel explores so many fascinating topics: the concept of military pilgrimage and the different experiences and emotions that it can evoke in individuals; how ideas of youth in the military were less about age and more about experience; how troops viewed themselves either as having surrendered to a higher power or as being the higher power in order to come to terms with the fragility of their lives; and how, for Edward, meeting parents who had lost their sons in war felt harder than watching so many men around him die.
In this book, Campbell writes that one should ‘never underestimate the capacity for men to transfer their concept of home from houses and fields and family onto their comrades’: this novel is an exploration of this transference of ‘home’ and the bonds that are forged in a wartime climate. It shows the brutality of survival at all costs and the surprising moments of beauty that enabled Edward to survive without the loss of his humanity. It was particularly poignant to read that Edward’s fear of loneliness exceeded his fear of dying, after a brief separation from Thorne.
The Fires of Gallipoli is more than just a wartime history, it is a tale of epic friendship and its trials and joys. It reflects the ancient epics that Edward and Thorne ostensibly ridicule, but ultimately fixate on, throughout their friendship. It is a tale of a friendship forged in Hell(es), and the struggle to sustain it outside of such a hellscape.
Ella Beales is a Historical Researcher, Archivist and Public Historian.
