Book Review: At The Going Down Of The Sun by G.M. (Graeme) Hague

One of the best books I’ve ever read is And In The Morning, Hague’s sweeping First World War epic about West Australian of brothers Jonathan and Joseph White, their friends and love interests, a tale that brilliantly charts the Australian campaigns in Gallipoli and on the Western Front and the spirit of those who went to fight.

Hague has done something similar in his latest war novel, At The Going Down of the Sun, which is set in the European Theatre during World War Two – events take place in the weeks and months after the D-Day invasions of France – and focuses on an Australian bomber crew who must complete thirty harrowing missions to earn their ticket home, the British ground crew who endeavour to keep their bomber in the air and a couple of members of the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF).

Danny and Dianne are the two main characters. He is Australian and she is English, and they embark on a relationship that begins tentatively at first, mostly because Dianne, a WAAF veteran, has seen so many – too many – men go out on missions and not return. She isn’t sure that she wants to go through the heartache of becoming emotionally attached to Danny, only for him to perish on a mission. With deep raids into enemy-held territory, which is of course covered with anti-aircraft guns, more than suited to shooting down the slow-moving bombers.

As was the case with And in the Morning, Hague does a stellar job of balancing out the story between what’s actually taking place in the war, and the more personal elements. The way the relationship between Danny and Dianne progresses well, and he’s written some fantastic minor characters, both other members of Danny’s bomber crew (likeable and otherwise) and the British who help keep the aircraft serviceable.

The raids are also handled well – there’s plenty of tension as various events crop up to make the return of Danny’s bomber contentious, and the pressure on the crew as they progress towards their target of thirty completed missions before discharge. If there’s one thing that Graeme Hague does well, it’s write good action scenes. I literally flew through this book, because each page brought a new development. Hard to put down when it’s so well-written and gripping!

I started reading, sure that it wouldn’t be able to rise to the heights that And in the Morning reached, but, it came pretty close – and At The Going Down Of the Sun is a fitting tribute to the men of Australia who flew bombers over France and Germany in the European theatre of World War Two. 

A tremendous read - Graeme Hague has done it again!